


Going for Gold: Rukia

by Geishaaa, LethanWolf



Category: Bleach, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Olympics, Christophe Giacometti is a Little Shit, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Gym Sex, Gym shower sex, Lemon, Olympics, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Pre-Relationship, Romance, Smut, Snowboard, Snowboarding, Winter Olympics, Winter Sports, Yuri on Ice character appearances, all the sex, figure skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 251,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21869920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geishaaa/pseuds/Geishaaa, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LethanWolf/pseuds/LethanWolf
Summary: Rukia Kuchiki is a 26 year old veteran Irish figure skater heading to her second Winter Olympics. With another gold medal on the line, Rukia is the favourite to win. What she didn't expect was to collide with a rowdy bunch of Australian athletes and one, Toshiro Shiba, a snowboarder who literally takes her breath away. {HitsuRukia, AU, Correlating fic to Geishaaa's.}----‘You!’ Rukia shouted, a little louder than she’d intended as there was a lull in the music at that exact moment. Half the room turned to look at her, including the white haired man. His bright eyes going round with shock for a moment before blinking dumbly in her direction. She realised she was now marching towards him with purpose and it must have looked odd, like she was about to slap him. Around her she could feel the gazes of everyone who had heard her call out, including their two countries teams, but her eyes were focused only on him. As she approached him, he opened his mouth to speak, a slight parting of his lips that she put to much better use as her hands found either side of his face and pulled it down to meet hers, crushing their lips together.
Relationships: Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kuchiki Rukia, Ichimaru Gin/Matsumoto Rangiku
Comments: 73
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1: Prologue: Medals Can't Give You Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go guys, this story has been over a year and a half in the making!! I can't believe it! It's finally going to be posted! Geishaaa and I are very excited to bring you this love project we've worked on for so long and we really, really hope you appreciate it.  
> To begin with chapters will be updated every 3 weeks but that may be subject to change in the future. Remember you don't just have my side to read! ;)  
> Those who are familiar with how we do our love storys will know there's 2 PoV, this story (my side) is told from Rukia's perspective.  
> Geishaaa's side is told from Toshiro's perspective! So please make sure you go over there and check that out too! We hope you enjoy and fall in love with it as much as we have!

(Art by: Ammsterdamn on Deviantart)

The sound of her skates cutting through the ice was hushed. She could easily hear a pin drop in the rink around her if one were to fall. Out on the ice she was focused and completely alone, her body and mind preparing itself as she turned around, facing back, her left foot gliding on the outside edge of her blade. Her right foot extended out behind her. With as much speed and strength as she could, her free leg cut down into the ice launching her into the air in from the difficult entry. She counted, one, two, three spins with her hands raised above her head, landing on her opposite foot in a perfect triple lutz.

‘Your left foot almost touched the ice,’ her brother’s voice sounded almost as cold as the frigid air around them.

‘Sorry,’ she called back, knowing better than to try to argue with him. Rukia had a habit of pressing her brother’s buttons, but even she knew better than to press them when she was in the middle of practice.

Her brother Byakuya had been her coach since she’d taken to the ice. He’d been coaching her for nearly sixteen years at this point, having been a figure skater himself. His career (at the peak of which, saw him take bronze at Worlds) was short lived due to a broken leg which meant he could no longer do figure skating competitively. It had been a crushing blow, at the time he’d been dating Rukia’s sister Hisana who had suggested he become Rukia’s coach full time instead.

Rukia only really put up with him because he was her sister’s husband, he was the only thing she had left of her sister, and the only family she had left alive.

It was a strained relationship.

‘Your free leg is sloppy,’ he called across the ice and Rukia gritted her teeth, pulling her leg in tighter. Figure skating was a subjective sport, not as clear cut as first across the line. There was so much that could lose the skater points and form and artistry was what her brother cared about most. Rukia was like most other ambitious skaters, aiming for the technical elements which had no cap when it came to scoring.

‘Run back through your Carmen routine,’ he instructed her when it was clear he was growing bored of the simple figures she’d been skating into the ice. There was something therapeutic about figures, it was one of the first thing skaters were taught before the jumps and the landing and the spins, they were taught figures. It was actually where figure skating got its name and though they weren’t compulsory like they once had been they were still taught. The whole point was carving beautiful, perfect images into the ice over and over, starting with the figure eight. A well trained figure skater could do them with their eyes shut, the blades barely making any noise. It was something Rukia found herself doing from time to time when she was contemplating, if she wasn’t dancing, she was carving perfect figures into the ice with nothing but the golden blades on her feet.

She skated back out into the centre of the ice when the familiar music sounded around the empty walls, she could feel her brothers scrutinizing gaze on her from across the rink. Her Carmen routine had been choreographed by him for her free skate in her last season. Figure skaters had two programmes, a short programme worth about a third of the overall score, it was a shorter performance than the free skate which was almost double the length and skaters had to complete both in order to win an overall total score. The Carmen routine that he’d created for her had caused a lot of strife recently. She was bored, bored of performing the same kind of routines over and over again. When he’d demonstrated the routine for her, spotting the jumps instead of doing them, she’d died a little inside.

However when it came to communicating her feelings, she struggled. She’d tried to ask him once before if she could choreograph her own routine but he’d kept denying her request. After taking the two routines he’d choreographed to the Grand Prix Final, she’d almost lost. Not only had she gotten one of her worst scores in years but a younger Russian girl had broken her short programme record. The resounding argument had been difficult. Byakuya had insisted it was her fault, she wasn’t putting as much artistry into her performance but she argued back she couldn’t with a performance she loathed. She wanted to choreograph her own routines or risk losing out on the title she’d held for so many years.

Her gold blades cut the ice below her with practiced ease and her arms carried out the same robotic movements. There was no smile on her face, no joy in her body as she skated a routine that she held no love for. In the large empty arena she could hear the click of her brothers disapproving tongue.

The last argument she’d had with Byakuya was because she’d forsaken the last GPF (Grand Prix Final) in pursuit of having a programme choreographed for her by the legendary Takahashi from Japan. It had not gone down well. Her brother had gotten defensive when she’d asked to choreograph her own routines and reminded her that the ice was a place of beauty and art, not adultery.

He seemed to think because she’d taken up burlesque and pole dancing in the last few years that she was going to whip out a pole in the centre of the ice and _really_ give the people a show.

Sometimes she was tempted, just to see his face. In retaliation she’d run off to Japan, only telling him where she was when she’d not turned up for practice as she was in Okayama Airport. Rukia had never heard Byakuya shout so much, but the great thing about being so far away was she got to feign bad connection and disconnect his calls.

Takahashi was her idol. The man was a skating legend, teaching that the ice was a place to express oneself in whatever form of art that may be. Prior to 2014, skaters were not permitted to use lyrical music and Takahashi had to make do with old school skating scores; Swan Lake, Carmen, Beethoven, other non-lyrical classics. When he’d danced hip hop out on the ice to a remix of Swan Lake it had deeply inspired Rukia.

At the time Rukia had been losing her love for her sport and the colour he shone into it made it worth living again. She’d learned his whole routine, loving the way he could put dance steps out onto the ice in a way she’d never seen before. Most figure skating routines were polished, smooth and sensual, this was rough, edgy and punchy. His movements weren’t designed to be graceful and yet he executed them with such precision that there was no doubt how much work had gone into the routine. There was one thing Rukia noticed above all else about his routine though; his smile.

She’d never seen someone look so happy before and the more she copied the routine the more she could understand why. Meeting him had been such an inspiration.

_‘Rukia your technical elements are far greater than mine,’ he said, pushing back his long hair he’d allowed to grow out over his face again, ‘you’re a far more bigger skater than me.’_

_His English was adorable and Rukia was enthralled just listening to him._

_‘But you don’t love it,’ there was a sad smile on his face, ‘I watched your routines and you don’t love them either.’_

_She hung her head in shame because he was right. It had been a long time since she’d felt the thrill of her sport. The genuine joy she held for the lonely patch of ice only came when she danced; free styling out on the ice to songs both her and her sister had loved. Musical classics, R &B, techno songs from the 90’s to name just a few genres. _

_‘You dance like you have a broken heart,’ his face still had the same sad smile and her heart clenched in her chest. ‘Why?’_

_‘I,’ she shrugged, ‘when I lost my mother and father, Byakuya had started to teach me and my sister to skate as a distraction.’ She hated talking about it. She tugged nervously at the sleeves of her training jacket as she glanced out across the rink. He didn’t have his own practice time so there were a couple of other skaters out on the ice, she let their presence be a distraction._

_‘Does your sister still skate with you?’ he asked._

_‘Can you show me the routine you choreographed for me?’ she deflected. He faltered, his large brown eyes watching her curiously as she glanced away, her hands still playing with her sleeves before folding them across her chest._

_‘You close yourself,’ he commented mimicking her stance, ‘skaters should be open,’ he opened his arms wide a smile on his face as he skated effortlessly around her. ‘Tell me what makes you happy.’_

_She smiled at how free he seemed to be, skating playful metaphorical circles around her._

_‘Dancing makes me happy,’ she said and he grinned at her._

_‘Me too,’ he chuckled and then pointed out to the centre of the rink, ‘let me dance for you.’_

_And dance he did. Rukia had informed her brother that Takahashi was only going to be choreographing her short programme routine, but that wasn’t true. Takahashi was choreographing her free skate but she felt she couldn’t tell her brother this. It meant that she’d have to practice the routine alone and polish it off herself, it was a risk, a massive one. She didn’t believe for a moment her brother would let her skate two unconventional routines at the Olympics. It was easier for him to believe it was simply the short programme that had been made up for her and that the free skate she’d take to the Olympics would be her Carmen routine from the previous season._

_The programme that Takahashi revealed for her was remarkable. At the end of it, he was panting and sweating and she knew she had her work cut out for her. The performance was fast paced, not a single moments’ breath from a spin to a jump to an intricate step sequence and she knew it would take all her stamina to pull it off._

_Thankfully that was one thing she did have, stamina. When she voiced to Takahashi that she wanted to include a quad lutz at the end of her programme he’d almost died on the ice. It was the exact same reaction her brother had when she’d informed him._

‘Don’t attempt the quad Rukia,’ her brothers’ stern voice echoed around the desolate walls. She gritted her teeth but did as she was told, putting a triple lutz in instead. Figure skating jumps were next to impossible to distinguish between just watching, unless you had a very well trained eye. There was only one jump that stood out against all the others and it was the Axel, which the skater was facing forward before jumping into, it was the only jump of its kind and the most difficult to do because of the extra half rotation in the air.

All the other jumps changed depending on which leg and which edge of the blade you were on prior to taking off into the air and which ones you used when landing. The jumps happened so quickly that regular viewers couldn’t tell, but in the arena the commentators would usually announce them as it happened. The lutz was the second hardest of all the figure skating jumps because you were on the opposite blade edge and the opposite leg to the direction of your turns in the air. Even though it was classed as one of the harder of the figure skating jumps to do, it had been the first jump Rukia ever did.

From that first day of landing her first jump, she’d struck up a tradition that when increasing the rotations, she’d always do a lutz first. Thus her first double (two in air rotations) had been a lutz as had her first triple (three rotations), it made sense then that her first quad would be the lutz too.

‘Sloppy,’ her brothers voice carried across the rink to where she was panting in her final pose. ‘You can do better than that,’ his voice was cold and struck across the empty rink, but each blow was against a hardened shell and Rukia drowned him out with her own thoughts.

‘Can I practice my jump now?’ she called back, her voice echoing bleakly in the large empty space. Her brother shot her a scolding gaze and she scowled at him, folding her arms across her chest the same way she always did when she was getting defensive.

‘Rukia, put that ridiculous notion away, you’re not doing a quad lutz,’ he snapped. It was true that not many male athletes attempted the jump because of its difficulty and many female skaters couldn’t land a single quad jump at all. Rukia knew she had the power and stamina but taking on a quad lutz was insane and wanting to put one at the end of her free skate, instead of at the beginning of her shorter programme was even more insane.

‘I’m doing it,’ she snapped back, not giving up. She had her own reasons for wanting to take on the challenge, reasons she was loathed to talk to him about when he was in this kind of mood. He didn’t seem to have any other mood settings though, so the chances of her opening up to him were slim. She was holding off for the return of her best friend to talk too, he was due back any hour after being away training in Sweden for a few months.

Brother and sister glared at each other from across the rink. The air was dense and cold between them. The only light was light flitting in through the large wall windows which was slowly dwindling, creeping its shadows across the ice between them.

‘We’re done for today,’ he said finally, ‘go and get your head in a better head space before the Olympics, with skating like that you won’t even reach the podium.’

She clenched her jaw as he turned to leave but the door at the far end of the arena burst open, light from the hallway beyond spilling in through and a tall lanky figure silhouetted against the door.

‘Ah’m back bitches!’ the loud booming and delightfully familiar voice called out across the rink. Instantly a smile broke out over Rukia’s face, her best friends’ voice reverbing around the previously empty space making it feel more alive than it had been in the few months since his departure. ‘Did you miss me?’ he laughed ignoring the glare that her brother was sending his way as he bounded over to the edge of the rink. Rukia skated towards the barrier to meet him.

‘Yes Moriarty,’ she laughed as Gin threw open his arms, that same twisted smile on his lips as Rukia crashed into his grip. Though there was a barrier between them, she felt his warmth instantly, his scent different to what it had been before he’d gone but the same unmistakable notes of him lingering and filling her with a sense of calm. She’d missed him more than she’d care to admit to anyone.

‘Hey short stuff,’ he laughed, his long arms caressing her back before reaching down and trying to hoist her over the barrier in an undignified fashion that left them both laughing and Rukia practically stumbling backwards away from him to save herself a nasty accident.

‘How was Sweden?’ she asked, beaming up at her insanely tall friend. Seriously, the guy had a whole foot and a bit on her.

She’d been keeping as up to date as she could with his Instagram but most of the videos he posted were him going down slopes at freezing temperatures in nothing but Hawaiian shirts and boxers. Really, there were few as odd as Gin Ichimaru but he was a sweetheart under all that bizarre and it was a wonder to Rukia why he was still single.

‘Aww it was amazin’ th’ snow was tae die for,’ he laughed, ‘real snow, not like tha’ synthetic crap we get here.’ He shrugged his large shoulders and beamed down at her. His appearance to most was startling at first, he was half Scottish and half Japanese. It was partly why they’d bonded so well at the last Olympics four years ago when they’d first met, Rukia was studying Japanese and so they were now fluent in the same three languages and able to have conversations in Japanese without her brother understanding a lick of what they were saying. He had the slanted Asian eyes of his mother but the paler complexion of his father. Though he was born in Scotland, he’d moved when he was relatively young his father refusing to let him compete under the British flag and opting for the Irish instead.

Rukia had thought all that rubbish about the Scottish hating the English was just made up until she’d met Gin’s father and realised that there were few as genuinely patriotic as the Scots, she was sure they could give most Americans a run for their money.

‘Did you get any actual training done?’ she laughed.

‘Yeah we did, no much though, nae yin really expects Ireland tae medal in snowboarding yeh know tha’.’ He grinned back at her as she scuffed her blades off the ice. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, it was just great to see such a friendly face after so long. 

‘No one expected that of me either Gin remember?’ she reminded him gently. Rukia was a four time Grand Prix Final champion, a four time world champion, a five time European champion and a seven time national champion though she’d only medalled gold in one event prior to the last Olympics where she’d also taken gold.

‘Yeh’d won gold at the bloomin’ Grand Prix Final, what dae you mean nae yin was expecting it? Yeh were oor best chance,’ he laughed, ‘an’ you didn’t blow it. Yer no gonnae blow it this year either are yeh?’

‘I hope not,’ she laughed nervously and he blinked at her.

‘Wait, tha’s not the confident Rukia tha’ was kicking ass before ah left,’ he looked down at her and despite his slanted eyes she could see the concern etched into his face. His brows gently furrowed at the top and she felt a lump rise in her throat. She’d missed him, missed having someone on her side. She’d felt like it was just her versus the world since he’d been away training.

‘Well I went to Japan,’ she muttered, ‘just like we spoke about. Brother wasn’t happy as you know, but it was the best experience of my life.’ She hesitated before continuing, ‘but this new point scoring has me nervous.’

‘Ah the chance for extra deductions?’ he said and she nodded, ‘aye ah remember the article yeh sent tae meh, so what does tha’ mean for yeh?’ he asked rubbing a hand against the light stubble on his chin. Gin always looked a bit older with a tiny bit of facial hair, Rukia had encouraged him to invest in a razor that would trim instead of shaving it all off and the rough sound of his hair against his fingers was warm and familiar to her. She smiled sheepishly up at him.

‘Well,’ she sighed, ‘basically if I step out of a jump, flub a jump, fall on a jump or make a mistake on any other element there’s a chance for more points to be removed. It’s in a bid to stop skaters attempting jumps they can’t fully land in competition and to focus more on the overall artistry of their performance.’

Like a quad lutz for example.

‘The tech scores still aren’t capped though are they?’ he asked

‘No,’ she confirmed, all skaters were given two scores to give them their total for their overall performance, a technical score for jumps, spins, step sequences etc and another presentation score, these minus any deductions gave the skater their overall score for their performance. The presentation score had a maximum of fifty points in the short programme and a maximum of a hundred in the free skate. So naturally once a skater reached a high level artistry of their performance they looked to push their technical scores up with more dangerous and risky jumps and spins. The issue with the sport was even a quad poorly executed with a fall would still be worth more points overall than a perfectly landed triple jump as long as all the rotations were in, at least that was how it used to be before the new scoring system. 

‘So yeh gonnae try for ah quad?’ he deduced and she could hear the concern in his voice, ‘quad lutz?’

‘Yes,’ she confirmed glancing around at the empty rink ‘I am, I know it will be hard and I know no other woman has landed it in competition. But last year at the juniors a girl who is thirteen landed a quad toe loop, Gin, _thirteen_ ,’ she stressed, turning to him and holding out her arms. ‘I’m the four time champion who is nearly double her age and I can’t even land one.’

‘The lutz though,’ Gin was frowning, ‘would the toe loop no be easier?’ The toe loop was the easiest of all the skating jumps and usually the one most people learned first.

‘You sound like my brother,’ she rolled her eyes with a fond smile before changing the subject. ‘So you didn’t meet anyone special while you were away training?’ she asked with a wink and he frowned.

‘Wha’? Meet someone without mah wingman? Come now Rukia yeh must know how horrible ah am at this game by now.’

‘You shouldn’t be single Gin,’ she laughed taking a tissue from her Mr Mistoffelees inspired tissue holder and blowing her nose. The only issue with an ice rink, if you weren’t working you were freezing. ‘You’d make a girl very happy.’

‘Then why don’t you date meh?’ he grinned and she laughed, normally he saved that kind of flirting to nose up her brother. Many of her fans had just assumed after the numerous selfies and videos of the two of them together that they were dating despite no official announcement. It was unlike her brother to believe internet gossip but Rukia and Gin often did make a point of annoying him with just how close they were.

‘You know why.’ She responded as she started jogging on the spot to try and keep her muscles warm. The truth was there were no romantic feelings at all between Gin and Rukia. Gin was a helpless romantic who wanted to be married and have kids and he’d be good at it. Rukia was unwilling to settle down, was looking for someone who was a very good fuck and she could leave without seeing again. They’d never work and they discussed that a few months after meeting, but they found that actually their differences translated beautifully into a harmonious friendship.

‘Aye, aye,’ he joked, ‘yer ah love them an’ leave them kind eh lass.’ He chuckled and waved a hand. Rukia smiled, the truth was she’d never settled down. Her longest relationship had lasted a week or two at most and at age twenty five it was almost unheard of. Especially since the relationship had happened when she was thirteen and hadn’t been anything other than pure innocence. She was simply married to her sport, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t developed a bad reputation for it over the years.

Following her sisters’ death when Rukia was twenty, she’d thrown herself into her sport. It had shut her off and while she’d closed off from everyone else around her she’d devolved into a nasty routine. The night before the GPF where she first took home gold, she’d slept with a bar tender the night before her free skate. Winning gold the next day, she’d repeated the event at the Olympics and again at Worlds, winning gold each time. It wasn’t a reputation she was proud of per say, but she just didn’t care what other people thought of her.

Sex was an escape she’d never realise existed before and she found she rather enjoyed it. No one would care about her reputation if she was a man, alas she was a woman and in a very conservative Irish community it wasn’t the kind of reputation a young woman should have. She’d not stopped over the last few years and her “sexcapades” had been steadily getting worse, more frequent and sometimes even borderline dangerous, one in particular having left her in the emergency room.

‘Are yeh going tae show meh these new routines?’ he finally asked, breaking her free of her thoughts. She grinned and plugged her phone into the portable sound system her brother had set up for practice using their ancient old aux cable.

‘You know the songs,’ she said as she quickly brought up Spotify for her short programme song. She’d sent them to him while she was deliberating, but he loved any kind of music so he wasn’t a very good judge of what was great skating music.

‘Yeah but ah wanna see the routines,’ he pouted, ‘these are the ones you did with Takahashi right?’

‘Yeah,’ she confirmed, ‘the first I choreographed myself though he did help me refine my step sequences. The second, he choreographed completely for me.’

She skated out into the middle of the rink and as she stopped Gin hit play on the music. The music started, the sultry tones of “Welcome to Burlesque” and that’s exactly what she danced on the ice. The music from the speaker was not nearly as loud as the music that they would play around the rink for the competition but great skaters knew how to keep the sound of their skating down so they could hear it. She was the champion for a reason, her blades never made rough noises on the rink unless she wanted them to do that. The start of the song was very sultry and she stuck to choreography and spins, saving all her jumps and combination spin to the second half of her programme for the extra points. It was something she would not do during the heats at the Olympics, she didn’t want people to think she was bringing her hardest game right up front. Skaters often had a few versions of a routine, one with different jumps and perhaps different spins, saving their peak for when it really mattered in a competition. If her competitors knew her whole plan then they could plan to be better than her. Skating was just as much about psych out and the mind than it was about actual moves.

She entered her last spin ready for the climax and pulled her leg up flush against her body, demonstrating her flexibility in one of the hardest spins, then gained speed by transitioning into a scratch spin, one of the fastest spins with the hands rising above the head before stepping out into her finishing pose.

There was clapping from the other end of the arena and she skated back over to Gin. She’d given it her all exactly like she planned to do at the Olympics. He was looking at her with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment.

‘Ah saw ah lot more of yeh in tha’ routine than ah dae when yeh get changed in the changing room,’ he chuckled, his eyes fixing on her seriously, ‘ah bet yer brother loved tha’ routine!’

‘He’s not the biggest fan,’ she chuckled taking a drink from her water bottle. It was true, her brother had been livid when he’d seen the apparent routine that “Takahashi” had choreographed for her. He’d hated it, but Rukia loved it, despite what he said the notes from the musical reminded her so much of her sister.

Maybe that’s why he’d hated it. She’d never wanted to ask.

‘Ah see the burlesque moves, the step sequences were stunning, very different tae how you skated before,’ he smirked at her, ‘an’ yeh looked so happy skating it tae.’

Rukia grinned at the compliment. She’d put a lot of her dancing training into that routine. She’d actually originally wanted to be a dancer and was trained in several styles from salsa through to hip hop and street. She sometimes found for a particular routine she’d take up some extra dance classes at her local dance studio. The family there knew her well and had given her a key to the studios and told her to go and practice anytime day or night she wanted.

‘Tha’ triple axel though,’ he whistled low, ‘are yeh doing yin in yer free skate tae?’

‘Yes,’ she nodded, there were a handful of women in the sport who could land the triple axel and she was one of them. It had been something she’d revealed in her last season, it was probably one of the only reasons she still took gold. Without it, it was likely the Russian girl would have won.

‘Not going for ah quad axel?’ he smirked and she rolled her eyes, throwing one of her skate guards at him. A quad axel was next to impossible right now, not even a male figure skater had landed one yet. That’s not to say it couldn’t be done and she was sure some of the men were working on being able to land it for the next season, just that no one had landed or even attempted it in competition yet.

‘No, no impossible quad axels just the lutz,’ she dusted off the ice shavings from her blades as she mentally prepared herself to show off her free skate. It was a programme that no one else had seen on the ice except its choreographer; Takahashi.

‘So, remind meh again why?’ he frowned at her, ‘It’s got tae be more than tha’ it’s yer “signature” move.’

He knew her so well. It actually caused a fluttering of emotions in her heart knowing that there was still someone around who knew her better than she seemed to know herself.

There was silence as she contemplated exactly how she wanted to broach the topic.

‘I’ve made an impact on this sport for Ireland.’ She started, ‘no one had ever medalled in any figure skating category prior to my gold last Olympics,’ she sighed, ‘and that’s something I am proud of, but I want to do more. I’m twenty five Gin, I’m going to be retiring soon. I want to leave my mark on the sport I love.’ He was listening intently as she glanced around the empty arena. The ice rink that they trained at was small, there were only a few seats, and it was not the same size as the massive event arenas she had competed in for competitions. ‘Every night when I go home I can’t help but sit on pages of figure skating history and imaging my name inside one of those empty boxes as the first women ever to land a quad lutz in competition.’

‘Alright, so,’ he leaned over, his voice intrigued now, ‘Ah get tha’ it makes sense, are yeh puttin’ it in your free then, cause ah noticed it wasn’t in yer short?’

She stood up straight and nodded, ‘I’ve not landed it consistently, only around a third of the time. Takahashi thinks I should change the position of it, have it in the first half of the programme.’ The kind older Japanese man had tried to explain that she couldn’t land it when she was heavy. She just took it as him calling her fat but he’d assured her it wasn’t what he meant. He said she had to be happy to land it, she had to find a reason to fly or she’d never get the height she needed in the moment of a competition to land the jump. She didn’t really know what he’d meant but taken it to mean if she was too tired or exhausted. She glanced out over the ice and sighed deeply. All of his advice was sound, if she was going to do it, she would have to do it when she had the most energy and the second half of this programme was not that place, especially not with how physically draining this programme was.

It’s exactly what she had wanted though, a programme just like the short she fell in love with all those years before. Blending dancing and hip hop on the ice in a beautiful marriage, but she was scared. She didn’t want to fail, she didn’t _really_ care if she medalled or not at this next Olympics, that wasn’t her aim. She wanted to bring that love and passion and inspiration to the next generation of young skaters in a way that Takahashi had done for her all those years ago. That would be worth so much more to her than a gold medal.

Though a gold medal would be nice…

Gin seemed to sense the internal mantra that had struck up in her head, for he offered her companionable silence for a few short minutes. Then he leaned over close to her and wrapped a long arm around her, hugging her gently from behind.

‘Show me,’ he muttered, ‘show meh why this will work.’

She reached up and grasped his arm for a moment before he pulled back and she skated out onto the centre of the ice. This was the first time she was performing this for someone else. She nodded and he hit play on the next song. This one couldn’t be found on her Spotify. She had to keep it hidden from her brother and he followed her on the app, not to mention this particular version couldn’t be found there.

The beat sounded sharp around the empty rink and Rukia thrust her arms up into the air, projecting something different than the sensuality and sexuality that had come with the burlesque routine before. This song (“Not Today”) packed a punch with a beat and a band she knew her brother hated; BTS. Except this was a Nightcore remix and she was sure that it wouldn’t be the judge’s favourite song choice, but she wasn’t dancing it for them.

She struck off into a backwards skate leading into her first spin in time with the music, keeping her body tight before breaking out and launching into some fun hip hop struts on the ice. She couldn’t help the smile on her face as she performed, it grew the more the routine stretched on, where the beautiful choreography supplied by Takahashi became stronger. At one point she entered into a flying sit spin, saving the majority of her jumps for the second half again to maximise the points, including her quad.

Pulling out of the spin and kicked up the ice, practically laughing at the thought of the judges faces and her brothers; it was an unconventional move even if she was doing it as part of gaining height for her leg to go up into the air. Figure skating had always been about straight edged blades and beautiful costumes, it was rarely ever about rough and raw performances like the one she was skating now… like the one that Takahashi had skated all those years before.

But it had won Takahashi a bronze and broke a mould to pave the way for a younger audience of figure skating. The ISU (International Skating Union) had been trying to work out how to make figure skating appeal to a younger and younger audience for years, that’s why in 2014 they lifted the ban on lyrical music numbers allowing skaters to skate to almost anything. Still most skaters chose the original classical pieces with a few only daring to enter into musical numbers that carried the same flow but with lyrics; such as Memories from Cats.

This song would likely be the standout song of the competition, meaning there would be more eyes on her and between this and her first programme if she didn’t nail the routines then she’d most definitely not get the podium at all.

She landed her combination jump, a triple axel into a triple flip, hands raised above her head for extra points and geared herself up for the quad.

She could already tell by her entry that she’d failed and she hit the ice hard, gritting her teeth but getting back up quickly enough to finish the routine the same way every skater did. Her routine finished with another combination spin, which ended with the Biellmann spin, pulling her leg up over her head and then as the final note struck out and a fake gunshot rung around the arena Rukia’s hands grasped at her chest and she finished in her final pose.

She was covered in sweat and cursed her missed quad, knowing that it would have easily lost her a couple of points. That was a problem because there had only been a couple of point’s difference between her and the girl in second place in the last Grand Prix Final event.

‘Fuck,’ she hissed, bringing an arm up to swipe the sweat off her forehead. Yes she wanted to inspire the next generation of figure skaters while coming up to the end of her own career but… she also wanted to podium at least. She kept telling herself it didn’t matter but she knew she’d be a little disappointed if she came home without a single medal.

She skated back to the edge of the rink where Gin was waiting, his clapping dull and muted and a concentrated look on his face. It was clearly a polite clap. 

‘Okay,’ he said, ‘Ah have ah few concerns.’

‘Unload them,’ she said as she pulled her water bottle over.

‘Tha’ routine looks fucking difficult Rukia and ah can already tell it isnae nearly as polished as yeh’d like,’ he certainly didn’t beat around the bush. His mode swapping from concerned friend to sporting competitor in a blink of an eye. ‘Are yeh sure yeh can pull tha’ aff?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly, gazing out across the rink. Skaters usually polished their routines for months and months, and what she was attempting to do was reckless and incredibly stupid… but if it worked…

‘How dae yeh feel aboot it?’ he asked. Half of what made figure skating such a difficult sport was that mind-set played the most important part. If a skaters mind was distracted or anxious they were much more likely to fail jumps and make mistakes. This was demonstrated easily by Nathan Chen at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics; Nathan who had been dominating the sport choked on his short programme performing the worst skate in years and subsequently not getting on the podium despite a killer free skate.

‘I don’t know,’ she answered honestly, because she was excited, she wanted to do this but she also knew the risks involved.

‘Yer Irelands best chance of ah gold medal this year,’ he reminded her, ‘next tae tha’ an’ not wanting tae carry the flag at the opening ceremony, ah don’t think the press will be good.’ He scowled and she grimaced. It was true. She’d only wanted Renji to have a shot at carrying the flag since he’d gained a silver medal in his event at the previous Olympics. She thought it would have been nice for him, especially since she’d carried the flag already last time. Though some of Ireland was supportive in her decision a lot of people were annoyed at her, thinking she was trying to cast her country off.

Which was ridiculous but that didn’t stop people speculating. If she did these risky routines and came back without a medal, it would be likely that Ireland would have a lot to say.

‘How much rink time dae you have till yer brother comes back with the young skaters?’ he asked glancing over his shoulder at the doorway as if Byakuya was going to walk through at any moment.

‘Probably about an hour,’ she said looking down at the time on her phone, ‘maybe less.’

‘Alrigh’ then, go practice, if he comes in ah’ll swap the music, yeh can think about it later.’ He glanced down at her phone and she smiled up at him.

‘Thank you Gin,’ she muttered as she took off into the centre of the ice and took up her starting position. Despite her exhaustion, she needed to use every possible moment she had to practice, but she did forgo the quad for the time being.

True to his word when her brother did walk into the rink, Gin swapped the music so fast there was no way in hell her brother would have clocked onto something. Rukia often let music playlists play and would free style out on the ice so that’s exactly what she did when she heard the music change.

‘Rukia, the young skaters will be coming in soon,’ her brother’s cool voice whipped across the ice towards her. She took note but didn’t stop the current spin she was in.

Soon the younger skaters started entering the ice and that was when Rukia chose to exit, she wanted an early night since she would be filming a promotional commercial for the Olympics with DC the next day. She skated over to the edge and was aware of all the younger skaters’ eyes on her as she swept by. She offered them a kind smile and three of them quickly took off running.

‘Do I have warts?’ she asked Gin as she got to the edge of the ice. It always happened, she’d try and be nice but most of the time they’d run away or end up crying, much to Gin’s amusement.

‘Naw,’ he laughed, the sound loud and booming through the rink.

‘Yer beautiful Rukia,’ he said charmingly because her brother was in full earshot. He reached down to tuck a loose strand of hair away from her sweaty face and she leaned into his touch because she knew her brother was watching. ‘Ah think they’re just scared because yer the four time reigning champion.’

‘Was,’ Byakuya cut in sternly, ‘technically she lost that title when she ran off to Japan instead of attending the last Grand Prix Final.’

He still sounded so bitter about it.

‘Until someone proves they can beat me,’ she huffed back, ‘I am still the champion.’

‘Given that deplorable short programme of yours, I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time.’ He walked away from them after that comment and Rukia made a hand gesture behind his back that she wasn’t proud of the young skaters seeing.

‘Let’s go,’ Gin said quickly to her, pursing his lips in amusement but also very much aware of how foul her mouth could be. Clearly he didn’t want the eight year olds being privy to her language choice.

Gin followed Rukia into the female changing area and waited on her as she showered. He babbled away about his time in Sweden and how he’d ended up out in the snow in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. He’d also explained the ridiculous picture of him trying to ride a tricycle through the snow at one point too, apparently there had been alcohol involved. He continued to talk excitedly about his training but Rukia realised there was still a lack of female interaction in his stories and she sighed. Her friend wasn’t very good at approaching women or even talking to them, it was a wonder he’d been with his ex for so long. They’d only broken up because he wanted to get married and have a family and she didn’t. Lisa was kind and the breakup had been amicable, both of them deciding they wanted different things. Naturally Rukia hated her on instinct for breaking her friends heart but she could also understand where the girl was coming from, Rukia had never once felt maternal.

Rukia tried not to let the emotion show on her face as they left the rink and parted ways. She’d missed him so much she wanted him to stay over at hers but he had plants that were dying and had to unpack and she was too proud to ask someone else to stay over even if she really wanted them too.

She took a slow jog back to her apartment and seriously debated going to the dance studio instead. Her legs were already complaining though and she knew she shouldn’t overdo it, least she risk an injury before the Olympics. With a huff she jogged off in the direction of the large block of flats. The top floor always seemed like a good idea at the time of purchase but not when she had to jog up all those stairs after a long day of training. She got to the top, puffing and out of breath, slipping her key into the lock and turning it.

The door swung open and she stepped inside, the temperature as cold as a rink because she’d not been home all day. Naturally she’d moved away from her brother as soon as she was physically able, clearly wanting her own space but not really realising how empty a place would be without another human occupying the space. She’d thought about getting an animal, much more of a dog lover than a cat lover but she was always travelling and training, it wouldn’t be fair to the poor animal to be home alone all the time. She put her bag down on the floor and threw her keys on the table of her open plan kitchen bunker. She glanced around the room. It was dark and on the far wall of her living room hung her display of medals. There were more in her bedroom, but out here the display was larger with her gold Olympic medal featured in the centre of several other gold medals.

In the display they sat gathering dust, no longer gleaming and winking at her when she looked at them. She’d long ago given up polishing them, it was a mediocre task and no one really saw them except Gin. She turned and put on the heating in a bid to try and warm the place up. Walking through to her room with her bag to take her skates out and spray the inside of them before hanging them up to air. Her bedroom felt just as unwelcoming, in fact it was even colder than her living room area where she could throw the TV on for company.

That’s exactly what she did, the TV sounded at the same moment an incoming text message caught her eye.

_Big G 19:23pm_

_[Attached Image]_

_HELP!_ _=’{_

Rukia burst out laughing at the image of the spider he’d attached and grinned into her phone and she quickly typed out a reply.

_Rukia 19:25pm_

_That’s what you get for being gone for so long. :)  
  
_

_Big G 19:25pm_

_Ur so mean tae meh ;.; can ah come stay at urs?_

She smiled sheepishly down at her phone and quickly confirmed that it was indeed okay as long as he picked up food. He promised and arranged to quickly run over to hers.

She threw the door open eagerly when he arrived and quickly stole the food from his hands so he didn’t think she was happy to see him.

‘Is tha’ all ah am tae yeh?’ he frowned at her as he came in and closed the door, ‘ah delivery boy?’

‘If the shoe fits,’ she grinned at him and laid out plates with their food while he made himself at home, demonstrating how much he knew his way around by pulling out wine glasses and a bottle of wine to celebrate his return.

They stayed up far later than they should have, exchanging stories from Sweden and Japan. Once he’d had a little more to drink than he should have, Rukia managed to coax him into sending her the video file from his dare gone wrong. The video was composed of a very naked Gin going out to snowboard in the snow, wearing nothing but his snowboarding shoes so he could still attach himself to the board. She was quite surprised that he didn’t get hypothermia even if he was only outside for a few minutes and laughed down at her phone as she saved the video for later.

‘Dinnae laugh at me,’ he grumbled into his fourth glass of wine, ‘it was cold okay?’

‘That wasn’t why I was laughing,’ she smirked at him leaning over to pluck the bottle away from him and fill up her own glass. It was a low calorie wine, she was allowed a few glasses at least. ‘But now that you mention it…’ she muttered cruelly into her glass.

‘Well now, it was all guys tha’ were there,’ he chuckled, ‘yeh’d have loved it.’

She smiled playfully over the top of her wine glass. ‘I bet I would have.’ There wasn’t anything wrong with a woman having a healthy interest in sex just as much as men did. At least that’s what she kept telling herself.

‘Haven’t yeh met a nice guy yet,’ he gushed leaning over the table and slumping down on it as she chuckled at him.

‘No, but who knows. Maybe I’ll fall in love at the Olympics,’ she rolled her eyes at Gin and shook her head, ‘or maybe I’ll just end up in the gossip sections of the newspapers again.’

‘They really dinnae like it,’ Gin grinned fondly up at her, ‘when women are the players dae they?’

‘They hate it,’ she laughed and then Gin whipped out his phone and began gushing about the upcoming Olympics.

Gin hadn’t medalled at the last Olympics, he was snowboard cross athlete and would be competing in the snowboard cross events. The two of them spoke about his competition and stalked some of their Instagram profiles. In the athlete world, social media was important. Social media gave them a place to connect with each other and also their fans, helping their brand deals and finding other sponsorships.

‘Yeh’ve got yer brand deal the ‘morra, haven’t yeh?’ he asked and she nodded, rubbing her eyes with a wide yawn. The gossiping lessened when they put a move on in the background, The Greatest Showman sing along version which was one of Rukia’s absolute favourites. Poor Gin had had to endure the movie so many times but he didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the fact. He was just as much a sucker for musicals as she was.

They managed to finish the wine and then crashed out on Rukia’s bed together. After months of sleeping in a cold empty apartment alone, it was nice to finally fall asleep the steady rhythm of another human’s breaths.

\---

The next day, Rukia woke a little worse for wear and later than she should have. She met the director from DC and he gushed about how big a fan he was and took a picture together before they launched right into what they were looking for that day. Gin had been left sound asleep on her bed back at the apartment with a note telling him to help himself to any food, the note wasn’t really necessary as he tended to treat Rukia’s place like a second home anyway.

‘So,’ he said as Rukia put on a pair of the new running collection that they were to advertise, ‘we want you jogging down this path, we need to work fast before we lose the light behind that building.’ He nodded up and started barking orders at his camera crew. Rukia had to jog up and down the same path more than seven times before they were happy with the shots of her feet. Every time she felt herself getting annoyed she just reminded herself; they were the reason she wasn’t flying economy to the Olympics.

Apparently the way the commercial were to go, she was meant to run to her rink in the DC shoes and swap them out for her golden skates and then put a different pair on for leaving later to go out. She pointed out to the director that the place they had her jogging was nowhere near the rink and actually, she wasn’t even jogging in the direction of the rink but they ignored it saying it wasn’t really important, apparently what was important were camera angles, lighting and artistry.

Rolling with it and very much doing as she was told, they then made their way to the rink where some of the young skaters were asked to leave for a bit and apparently spotlights had to be put on; which was ridiculous because you _never_ skated with the lights low expect in a Gala skate. The Gala skates were performed a couple of days after the main competitions; worlds and the GPF as well as the Olympics and it was basically a party on the ice with all the skaters from all the four categories; men’s single, women’s single, ice dancers and pairs. It was where jumps didn’t matter and the people who had taken part in the event usually did routines to things they loved like anime and tossed things around the rink. It was the highlight to the skating events for the skaters. A chance to let loose and have fun on the ice.

She pointed this out again but the director ignored her and she eventually gave in, allowing them their fifteen different close ups of her gold skates so that they’d sparkle just right next to the new high top DC shoes. She did really love the new shoes though and hoped she’d get to keep them after they were done filming. She was a massive fan of the DC high tops and easily owned thirteen pairs at home.

Once they were all happy, they packed up and left. She did indeed get to keep the pairs she’d worn. Rukia was about to meet Gin and drink more wine because that had been a lot more stressful than she’d anticipated when she got a very exciting call.

Her costumes were ready.

When she told Gin she’d be running late and why he’d called her and demanded to come and see them first hand. She knew that her brother would be pissed off about it, which was exactly why she said yes. Not being able to drive, Gin picked her up and she dumped her bag in the back of his car before instructing him on where to go.

Her tailor lived in a tiny cottage outside of Dublin, it was over an hour’s drive away and totally worth it. Normally her brother took her but since coming back from Japan their relationship had been even more strained than usual.

‘Ah am so excited,’ Gin gushed as they listened to his horrendous music choice as they sped down the country roads. ‘Ah’ll be the first tae see them.’

‘Sometimes I wonder if we’re friends or you’re just a fan,’ she smirked at him and he laughed at her, swatting her hand away from his ipod as she tried to change the channel. Who the hell listened to The Glitch Mob anyway?

Her tailor was called Duncan and he greeted them dramatically as he led them inside, he did costumes for all sorts including most of the Irish national figure skaters, he was very good at what he did and he was patient with Rukia when she did her best to describe what she was wanting.

‘Okay now, do you want to change and show Gin?’ he asked leading them into one of his smaller rooms where an en-suite bathroom doubled as the changing room. Three large mirrors stood in the back of this room, with a step where he could make final adjustments as they went.

‘Yes, I want it to be a surprise until I have them on,’ she grinned and Gin smirked in excitement, doing what he was told and going to sit in one of the corners. Rukia had brought her skates out of the car so she could get the completed look and went to change in the bathroom. The first costume was a stunning deep crimson red, with a large portion of the back cut out that wrapped around her side. It had long, slightly transparent arms and neck line. It came all the way down her arms in a delicate looking way, while still being flexible enough for her to move. The bottom finished in two points on either side of her right thigh allowing her the chance to move. It had been designed so that they would flow gracefully as she pulled off some of her burlesque routine. The high neck hold came up like a choker and sat about halfway up her neck, meaning there would be no need for a necklace to give the costume a polished finished look. She was over the moon with it, she walked out and Gin sucked in a breath.

‘Dear lord yer not going tae be hard done by tae find someone tae bang at this competition Rukia,’ he chuckled, his voice low and husky, ‘they’ll be lining up.’

Duncan clearly chose to ignore the comment her inappropriate friend had made but Rukia did shoot him a playful glare in the mirror.

The second outfit was a lot more subtle, black that extended from her throat all the way down over her arms and wrapped around her middle fingers. The skirt material was light and would flick out easily as she skated, the entire outfit was studded with delicate little jewels in a beautiful pattern that started strong at the top and broke up as they fell down towards her middle. It was subtle and she loved it. Both outfits were blessed with fabric that wrapped completely around her neck. Exactly what she wanted considering how much she loved neck bites.

Bruises on the neck were unsightly even she knew that, these outfits meant she wouldn’t have to worry as much, but it was a fact that she’d not tell her brother. She just needed to make sure they weren’t visible long enough until they faded a little and makeup could cover them. She wasn’t missing out on neck biting just because she had a competition to win.

She’d clearly thought about this a lot.

Gin gave the second outfit his approval as well but the first was definitely the clear winner, she couldn’t blame him, it was her favourite as well. Probably her favourite costume she’d ever worn actually.

‘It just shows off yer tattoo so well,’ he gushed as they made their way out to his car, delicate fabric safely stored away in bags to protect it from the Irish weather.

‘Yeah that’s partly why I did it,’ she chuckled. She’d gotten the tattoo done about three years ago, Japanese straight down her spine. It was her only tattoo and her brother had been livid. It had been a quote her sister had often said, though she did have to change it slightly for it to make sense in Japanese for a Japanese person reading it.

It roughly translated to; “when I step on the ice I fly” and it derived from her sister always commenting how she looked like she was flying across the ice. It had been in her memory with a tiny date at the bottom of her spine just above her right bum cheek in English, the date of her sisters passing. It had been partly self-inflicted pain as her way of coping with her sister’s death without really actually coping with her sister’s death. Though the whole tattoo would not be on display she would be showing off a huge portion of it with the costume.

‘Now all tha’s ready,’ he grinned as they got into his car to head home, ‘is tae get ready for the Olympics baby!’

**\---**

That’s exactly what they did. The next month flew by in a blur of practice, practice, practice.

‘You’re not landing the jump because you’re not jumping high enough,’ her brother barked across the empty rink towards her. ‘You need about half a foot extra in the air if you’re going to pull out of the jump in time to stop your leg crumpling under you.’

‘I’m not landing the jump,’ Rukia gritted her teeth against the pain throbbing in her hip and her bruised ego, ‘because we’ve been at this for nearly two hours without a break.’

‘You should rethink your strategy then Rukia, placing the jump at the end of the free skate is like announcing to the world you don’t plan to land it, you just wanted to try it.’ He glared her down across the rink and she bit back her abuse. He was right, there was a harsh element of truth to his words and she knew that. Even Takahashi had said something similar but in a much kinder way. No skater would attempt a jump of that magnitude at the end of their programme, not if they wanted to do it justice. She skated up to the edge of the rink where her water bottle was and her brother let out a deep sigh as she drunk the water.

‘Look Rukia, I know you like to defy everything I tell you do, but let’s be serious. Putting the quad at the beginning of your programme, you’re in a much better position to be able to land it.’

She had more success landing the jump when she was less exhausted and so she relented. He was right and she knew it, she’d been trying it her way for weeks now and her success rate for landing it had only gotten worse. It was time to listen to her coach.

‘Fine,’ she sighed, ‘I will swap out the first triple loop double toe combination in favour of my quad lutz and move _them_ into the second half of my programme.’ Her brother pursed his lips and looked like he was about to argue. She knew why, he wanted her to remove her triple salchow and save that for the end, but the salchow on its own was an easier jump and worth far less points in the second half. She needed to force back some more difficult to keep her technical points in line with what the Russian programmes seemed to be that year. They stared at each other for a few moments and his shoulders slumped, defeated.

‘Fine,’ he sighed, ‘run through your short, spot your jumps you’re clearly too exhausted to do anymore and I don’t want you injured before we even make it to the Olympics.’ He said, of course she ignored him, running through her short programme with her jumps still in play. It wasn’t the most graceful though, and she did step out of her triple axel due to her exhaustion.

Gin had been practicing on the slopes of fake snow and training in the best ways he could and Rukia would work on her free skate when her brother wasn’t around. She was still struggling with her quad lutz but she was landing it more and more consistently each time, even if those landings were double footed or with a slight stumble. Byakuya and Takahashi had been right, putting it at the beginning really did make a massive difference.

The outfits for the Irish team arrived and Rukia had to pretend like she thought they looked amazing. They were in fact a very bright combination of green and blue. The entire track suit of trousers and under jackets were a very deep rich blue with a bright lime green body warmer jacket. Rukia cursed the fact that the two colours would really make them stand out but she was just pleased they hadn’t opted for something more… orange. Those were their outside outfits and the ones they’d be wearing into the stadium as part of the opening ceremony. The other outfits were a lot smarter, dark navy jumpers with a dark green four leaf clover on them and dark trousers, for Gin, Renji and Soi Fon doing slopes the trousers were loose fitting and comfortable cotton, for Rukia on the rink hers were more like leggings and clung to her in a way that left _very_ little to the imagination.

At first she’d not been a fan until her brother had voiced his distaste of them too and she suddenly learned to love them. Pictures of the Irish team in these outfits had been snapped and posted online as the announcement for the Official Irish line up of athletes. It was the first thing you saw as you googled; ‘Irish Olympic Team.’

The flight to Switzerland where the games were being held only lasted a couple of hours, most of the time spent playing cards against humanity with the other athletes. Ireland were only sending the four athletes this year; Rukia for figure skating, Gin and Soi Fon for Snowboarding Cross and Renji for Skiing. Rukia had already met them all except Soi Fon because they’d all met at previous Olympics. Even though Rukia and Renji went back further than that they’d realised, having attended the same school together, they grew apart but at the last Olympics became quite close again, like they’d never really been apart at all.

She’d almost forgotten what a notorious prankster he was too.

It wasn’t until they were in line going through security that she was reminded.

‘There’s nothing in my damn bag,’ Soi Fon’s voice snarled behind her and Rukia turned around as she slipped her shoe back on. Gin was stuffing his phone back into his pocket and putting his phone charger pack back in his bag, glancing over with interest.

Soi Fon had been called to the side, her bag having gone under the x-ray machine had come out the other end and was about to undergo a search by security. The coaches had all gotten through just fine and Urahara stepped up beside them to ensure his student was alright.

One of the female security officers opened Soi Fon’s bag and grinned down into it. She wore a look that seemed to suggest she was about to have the best day ever at work. Gin and Rukia exchanged looks, for Rukia had just noticed Renji’s silent laughter as he made his way through the metal scanner.

‘This seems to be causing us concerns,’ the woman pulled out a large black dildo taped to a bottle of water.

Instantly Rukia was buckled. She grabbed onto the edge where the trays were kept because she genuinely didn’t think she was going to make it. Behind her Gin was howling and the worried voice of Ukitake muttered ‘oh dear.’

Soi Fon’s face went bright red as she stared uncomprehendingly at it.

‘T-that’s not mine!’ she said as the security officer pulled out sex toy after sex toy. Another member of staff had come to stand beside her, trying his best not to laugh but unable to hide his grin, around them a lot of other people had realised what was happening and were laughing too. Gin now had his phone out filming the event.

A whip, a dog collar, another dildo, several packets of condoms and lube, a set of butt plugs (Rukia winced at those) and a vibrating bullet that the staff turned on for good measure, just to check it was working.

‘You’re going to be having fun at the Olympics,’ the male security officer said loudly.

‘It’s not mine, it isn’t,’ Soi Fon was bright red in the face as everyone around her laughed. Rukia, who hadn’t laughed this hard in months, genuinely thought she might just die of laughter.

‘Get up,’ her brother snapped at her because she’d basically ended up on the floor, the urge to pee herself causing her to sit down sharply. Gin was crumbled over beside her and Renji (who had made it through security) was laughing noisily too.

Rukia tried to follow Byakuya’s request, knowing fine well a lot of pictures and videos were being taken of the Irish Olympic team right now.

‘Is it a haze?’ the male officer called quirking a brow at the rest of the Irish team.

‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,’ Renji said winking and causing the staff to laugh.

‘Welcome to the Olympics,’ he said helping the female officer load the stuff back into the bag, but removing the bottle of water which had caused it to flag up in the first place.

‘Fuck you,’ Soi Fon snapped at Renji as she finally passed by him. He handed her the real bag filled with her actual things and they then realised they had a bag filled with loads of extra sex toys they had to dispose of.

‘You dinnae want the condoms dae yeh Rukia?’ Gin offered and Rukia actually took a couple out of the box along with the bottle of lube. Renji did the same and they offered Soi Fon the dildos but were promptly told where to shove them.

‘It’s good to see you again midget,’ Renji laughed at Rukia as he took her carry on to put in the overhead for her because she couldn’t reach. She huffed and batted his hand away when he went to ruffle her hair. ‘You’ve managed to get yourself quite the reputation.’ He smirked and she rolled her eyes with a smile. Thankfully her brother was seated over beside the other coaches; Ukitake and Urahara so she wouldn’t have to put up with him.

‘Yeah well how’s this new boyfriend of yours?’ she fired back at him, ‘I heard he’s on the opposite side of the world.’

She’d been keeping up with his Instagram account and knew he had acquired a boyfriend in the same sport a year before at one of the Skiing competitions.

‘Yeah he’s great,’ he grinned down at her, ‘I can’t wait for you to meet him. We’re doing a party after the opening ceremony and of course all of the Irish team is invited.’ He spread his arms generously wide for the small number of Irish athletes attending.

‘Aye, the whole four eh us,’ Gin rolled his eyes and Rukia pursed her lips.

‘Fuck the lot of you,’ Soi Fon snarled, clearly not over the prank and public mortification she’d just endured. The woman was new to their little group and already seemed to be quite serious and unforgiving. She had the misfortune of reminding Rukia of her brother.

‘Rukia do you have enough condoms?’ Renji asked sarcastically, ‘because I have more I can give you.’

‘They always hand loads of them out for free at the Olympics anyway you know that,’ she reminded him.

‘Yes but at the rate you go, you’ll burn through them in a week.’ He laughed and she glared playfully back at him.

‘I’m not that bad you asshole,’ she huffed.

‘How many was it last Olympics?’ Gin asked curiously leaning over.

‘It was just two guys calm down,’ she scowled at her best friend who just grinned broader.

‘Ah’m sure it was three.’

‘I was too drunk to remember the third so he doesn’t count.’

‘Don’t think that’s how it works Rukia,’ Renji laughed and the conversation swayed onto how he and his mysterious strawberry blond boyfriend had met. Next to that and the occasional inappropriate card played in cards against humanity, the flight got there in no time at all.

Too soon they were all glancing out the window as they descended upon the snowy tundra of Switzerland. Emotions running high and Rukia grinned over to Gin who looked beside himself. Despite the stress and hard work and dedication it had taken to get them there and that they’d suffer over the next few weeks, the Olympics were the most exciting highlight of an athlete’s life.

‘Are you ready?’ she asked him.

‘As ready as ah’ll ever be,’ he replied with a grin.

Next to meeting Renji’s new boyfriend, trying to win gold and possibly sleeping with a couple of cute athletes this winter Olympics was certainly going to be one to remember.

Let the games begin indeed.

\---

 **@Skating4Ever  
** OMG! Did you see those outfits? The Irish team are going to smash it, I think we’ll easily get three medals this year.

**@KuchikiCanWalkOnMe  
** I love how Rukia is the only one wearing those tight leggings, not that I’m complaining of course, she looks fantastic in them, just wish we’d got a shot from behind.

**IrishLass101  
 _@KuchikiCanWalkOnMe_** you weirdo. Besides I hope Rukia will behave herself this year, she’s gotten herself quite the reputation, it looks bad on Ireland.

**@AmericanIdiot  
 _@IrishLass101_** why? I think she’s a perfect representation of Ireland. Legs wide open.

**@IrishLass101  
 _@AmericanIdiot_** well at least we know what sex is, unlike your schools where you teach kids to abstain and wonder wtf you have so many 14 years olds pregnant. Bible munching bastard.

**@DisneyPrincessLit  
** Maybe we can all keep the peace and just admit that the Irish team look awesome, now for the real question will we see them with the Aussie team now that Ichigo and Renji are dating?

**@DiggingForGold  
 _@DisneyPrincessLit_** Is that officially announced!?!

**@DisneyPrincessLit  
 _@DiggingForGold_** _,_ yup check source: [https://OlympicNews.com/Renji-And-Ichigo-Dating](https://olympicnews.com/Renji-And-Ichigo-Dating)

**@DiggingForGold  
 _@DisneyPrincessLit_** HOLY SHIT! You just made my life!!!!!

**@SwagItMatsumoto  
** If the Irish team get to hang out with Rangiku then I’ll be so stupidly jealous it’s not fair. >.<


	2. Rukia Will Never be a Vegan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rukia quickly glanced back towards the Aussie team while Gin was distracted. She instantly made eye contact with the white haired boy from earlier who flashed a quick smile before turning his attention back to the ceremony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY-O All!!!!  
> Okay so remember this fic is double sided and for Toshiro's PoV you need to read the other fic written by Geishaaa.  
> Also, I am aware that during the Winter Olympics that figure skating doesn't normally have heat rounds, we changed it a bit in this fic just to give Rukia more competitions to face for story purposes.  
> Enjoy!

The Irish Times

Going For Gold

The Irish team of four and their coaches have now left for the Winter Olympic Games being held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The crew is made of Renji Abari, aged 27 for Skii Jumping, Soi Fon aged 27 for Snowboarding Cross, Gin Ichimaru aged 24 for Snowboarding Cross and finally Ireland's golden girl Rukia Kuchiki aged 25 for figure skating.

The team were flown first class on an Aer Lingus flight which will be landing at Samedan airport on Friday 3rd February at 11:36am. Ireland is coming together to wish the athletes the very best of luck but just who are these athletes and can we expect Ireland to take any medals this year?

Renji Abari placed second in the last Winter Olympics, bringing Ireland home a silver medal and we have hopes he can take to the podium again. Dates and times of when to tune into Renji’s events will be listed in the index below. Renji who recently announced publicly that he was gay has also recently announced he is dating Ichigo Shiba (a fellow competitor in the same sport from Australia). Since the announcement, Renji has become Ireland's first ever openly gay Winter Olympic athlete and a massive icon for young members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Soi Fon is going into her first ever Winter Olympics but not without good reason, she came in fifth in the last women’s Snowboard Cross World Cup. She’s spoken openly about trying her best to get Ireland a medal but with so much competition she has reservations.

Gin Ichimaru placed eighth at the last Winter Olympics but recently placed second at the Snowboard Cross World Cup. He brought home silver for Ireland in what he considered to be a fluke before flying out to Sweden to continue his training. We hope he podiums at these Olympic games but when asked for a comment Gin stated he’d be happy just getting further in the competition than he did in the last Olympic games.

That brings us to Rukia Kuchiki pictured below, she is Ireland's only entry for an arena event these games and best placed to take gold. With four years’ worth of titles under her belt and a gold at almost every event she attends including the last Winter Olympics, we’re excited to see what Rukia will achieve at these games. It has been rumoured that Rukia has a new Short Programmed that will be revealed at these games, the rumours spiralled after Rukia was pictured in Japan around the home rink of legendary figure skater; Takahashi. What will these games hold for the young figure skating champion?

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…

Rukia read through several articles online as they waited at baggage claim, she waited for everyone else to find their suitcases for her, considering they were bright green to match their body warmer jackets which they’d just changed into prior to slipping off the flight. The Irish Times was reporting entirely on the event, they had always been rather kind to her, unlike a lot of the other gossip sites which had threads of people attempting to make bets on how many men she’d sleep with at these games.

How on Earth did they plan on proving just how many men she did and did not sleep with? She scowled down at her phone. The press were not allowed inside the Olympic Village that was a known fact and most of the athletes all respected each other’s privacy. It was just an unspoken rule among athletes. The really annoying thing about her reputation was, if she were a man it wouldn’t be an issue. She pocketed her phone and glanced up to see the suitcases being hauled off onto a trolley by Renji and Gin. As Rukia waited she spotted what appeared to be another country and team arriving. They were loud and making their way towards a different baggage claim. Judging by their colours and chipper expressions they were probably the Denmark team. Rukia’s eyes did a quick scan over them, most of the guys didn’t really catch her eye, which meant they were perfect… Rukia preferred to go for guys who would slip under the radar, it was less likely to make headlines.

‘See anyone yeh like?’ Gin asked over her shoulder and she laughed and batted him away. He grinned and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder leading her away from the burly Denmark team and off in the direction of the exit. She snapped a selfie with the team at the welcome to Switzerland sign of the airport and posted it onto her Twitter and Instagram pages before they were piled into a small coach and carted off towards the Olympic Village in St. Moritz.

The journey didn’t take as long as she expected and soon they had their faces pressed up against the glass beaming out at the high rise hotels that had been emptied as part of the Olympic Village for the athletes and coaches to stay at.

‘No quite the luxury yer used tae,’ Gin chuckled dryly as he leaned over the back of Rukia’s chair. She ignored him, knowing he was just teasing her, she was very much used to crappy hotel rooms and the ones at the Olympics were generally kept in pretty okay-ish conditions compared to some of the hotels she’d checked into. True in the last year or so she’d been paying upgrades for better rooms because she could afford it, but now her brother was in charge of the money so goodness only knows the arrangements that he had made.

‘We’ll get the things up to the rooms, if you want to go and explore the village.’ Ukitake said from the front of the bus, the elderly man coached Renji and was coming as part of the coaching team along with Urahara who coached both Gin and Soi Fon.

‘That sounds great,’ Rukia smiled to herself, a chance to check out the sights and the talent.

‘Just make sure you’re not gone long, we need to be at the arena for the opening ceremony briefing and setup no later than 5:30pm,’ Byakuya said firmly literally draining all the fun out of the air. Rukia held her sigh in and turned towards the window. That wasn’t so bad, that still gave them quite a few hours to explore and get a feel for what facilities were around for fun.

The answer was; not much. The Olympics had a lot of facilities including a massive canteen where all the athletes could eat for free in the village but overall the place lacked the facilities for a decent atmosphere. There was a massive gym, a giant TV studio set up as a base for all the international news coverage and literally one place where the athletes could go and relax. They’d set up a bar (which sold no alcohol… _oooh fun_!) but the bar did have a few pool tables, air hockey and at night the staff pushed them aside and put on music while dimming the lights for a club like environment to give them the chance to dance. There was also karaoke planned so at least the place wasn’t a total buzz kill.

Outside the Olympic village there were rumours to be real alcohol and real clubs and real bars, but there was also press. Lots and lots of paparazzi waiting like vultures for the athletes to do something stupid and worthy enough to end up on the news which would reflect poorly on their country.

The Irish team made the mature decision to stick to the village especially since Rukia would likely cause a stir. She huffed but she knew that her team were right, being one of the athletes most likely to win gold made you slightly more recognisable and Figure Skating was always rated as one of the most watched Winter sports, it sat on par with snowboarding and for some reason the ladies seemed to be the most popular. Rukia tried not to scowl at that, it was true most of her fans seemed to be old American men who would talk about how their ancestors came from her land and send her the occasional unsolicited dick picture.

Most of them weren’t even that attractive, in fact there had only been one that had worked on her out of the hundreds she’d received.

A lot of people would openly state how dicks weren’t exactly an attractive body part but Rukia could appreciate a nice one when she saw one. It’s not exactly like it was a conversation she could have with anyone though, people in Ireland were still so conservative and religious. A woman’s place was still very much in the kitchen rather than out working and a lot of Irish guys found her too brash and forward for their tastes.

They also didn’t seem to appreciate a girl who was more athletically fit than they were which was why she stood a better chance to pull at international competitions.

As they stalked through the streets heading back in the direction of the stadium where the opening ceremony was to take place, Rukia frowned at their attire. The slightly rich deep blue of their trousers and hats was a stark contrast to the blinding bright green of their jackets.

She felt less self-conscious once she was inside, especially when she saw the attire the Americans had on. The navy blue sweaters were covered in white stars and were much more of an eye sore than they were attractive… there were a few other teams dotted around whose outfits were by far ten times worse than theirs. Relaxing she grinned up at Gin who was beside himself with excitement, pointing out various sporting legends and loudly educating everyone in the Irish team on their achievements. Sometimes his ADHD would shine through in moments like this, his mind seemed to work well in retaining useless facts about every single actor who played in every role in every movie and yet he’d always forget his own mother’s birthday. He’d been diagnosed as a child but most of the time people couldn’t tell, except when he got overly excited or nervous; he’d over talk.

Rukia stood there ignoring her friends floundering for the most part and studying the way that Renji’s face was lighting up as he grinned down at his phone. Rukia was just about to ask him who he was texting when a member of staff came by to brief them. The staff member’s voice carried just barely above the 90’s dance tunes that seemed to be thrumming through the stadium. Renji was given his flag and they were told to walk behind him and follow their guide who was a tall slender woman in white heels holding onto a frosted design with their countries name in different languages. It seemed simple enough, their job was to smile and wave and not do anything inappropriate like mooning the audience.

‘There goes my fun,’ Rukia huffed as the staff member walked away, ‘that’s what I spent so long training for.’

‘Ah bet all your fans would’a loved tha’,’ Gin chuckled and she cringed, it maybe hadn’t been the best joke to make. Especially since she knew there were fan pages out there dedicated entirely to skater butts.

‘What are you grinning at?’ Rukia finally asked Renji, changing the topic as he tried to wave her off.

‘Nothing,’ he smiled.

‘If that’s Ichigo you’re texting I’m going to spew,’ Soi Fon was even more moody than usual and Rukia laughed at the other girl. Sharing a room with her was going to be a delight.

‘Get ready to hurl chunks then,’ Renji laughed at her.

‘Oh my god,’ Gin said his whole body freezing. Rukia turned to watch him then followed his line of vision. He was watching a couple pulling off strange dance moves in time to the music. They both looked ridiculous. It was hard to tell from the colours what country they were. They had white puffy jackets, black gloves, black trousers and yellow beanies. The girl who was facing them was tall, had long strawberry blond hair and even though all the athletes were wearing thick as shit clothing Rukia could tell she had quite the curvy body underneath.

It wasn’t fair when a sporty person had curves as well as their sport, sometimes the world could be very cruel.

The guy she was dancing with was short, probably about 5’5 and only really came to her chin, it was hard to say for sure because they kept bouncing around. They were pulling off some over the top ridiculous dance steps.

‘Stop staring,’ he hissed at her.

‘I’m not,’ she replied but she very much was. Their energy was infectious and she was smiling just watching them. Trying to work out the country in her mind when she spotted the flag leaning against the wall ready to be picked up when they were set to walk out. It was the Australian team.

‘Stop it,’ Gin hissed in her ear again, ‘she’s going tae see you!’

‘No she won’t, I’m too short,’ Rukia chuckled transfixed on the duo, she found herself grinning as though their excitement and energy seemed to be infecting those around them. She wasn’t the only one staring anyway, not with dance moves like those. ‘Who is she anyway?’

‘Jesus Rukia, she’s the halfpipe queen, took gold last Winter Olympics. Rangiku Matsumoto,’ he tried his best to block her view and Rukia just bobbed under his arm to continue staring, mostly because she now knew it was bugging her friend so much. ‘She also took silver in the slopestyle and she’s like… won every competition since then.’

‘Does someone have a crush?’ she teased glancing up at him and spotting the red on his cheeks. It only made her grin widen further.

‘Who th’ fuck doesn’t, have you _seen_ her?’ he wrapped an arm around Rukia and tried to pull her back.

‘You should go over and say hello,’ she chuckled and Gin made a weird noise at the back of his throat. It sounded like someone had physically wounded a dying animal.

‘Oh aye sure, just walk up tae her and be all like “hey you dinnae know who ah am, but ah think you’re well hot.”’ He scoffed and she chuckled reaching up to pat his arm because she couldn’t reach his face.

‘She’d be lucky to get to know you,’ she said and he just laughed.

‘There he is,’ Renji butted into their little moment and Rukia turned to see his eyes alight and he thrust an arm into the air waving it excessively in the direction of the Australian team.

Rukia thought Gin was going to have a heart attack.

‘Wha’ are you doing?!’ he gasped.

‘ICHIGO!’ he called and a load of people around them turned to stare at Renji, including half the Australian team. Excited to meet the boyfriend Rukia turned back and spotted a tall strawberry blond boy with a goofy love struck grin on his face break free of his pack and bound over. Her eyes rested on him for a second before falling to the shorter boy that Rangiku had been dancing with. He was now turned around and her mouth fell open.

_Fuck._

Rukia didn’t ever say she had a type. Mostly because she’d never had a consistent type of guy she would hooked up with but _fuck_ if she did have a type this would be it. He had a young porcelain face, smooth skin with just a little dusting of a blush on his high cheekbones. His nose was perfectly proportional to his entire face unlike the guy she’d hooked up with at worlds last year. He had a head full of thick white hair, most of the spikes of which were sticking out from under the yellow beanie and even from this distance away she could see how massive and round his eyes were. Framed with thick black lashes and a deep almost greeny-blue in colour. She couldn’t tell from this far away.

_Fuck._

She’d never really understood on that trip to the Louvre in France why people dedicated themselves to so many years of a single piece of art but now she knew. He was _gorgeous_.

‘Ah said stop staring,’ Gin hissed at her again as time seemed to speed back up. Ichigo brushed passed them and into the open arms of Renji who was waiting to engulf him. The whole scene would have been adorable and certainly there were a few people from neighbouring countries who cooed at the sight, but Rukia’s eyes were still trained on the shorter boy from Australia who was watching the scene between Ichigo and Renji with interest.

‘Oh my god, she’s looking over here, stop staring,’ he hissed at her for the millionth time.

Rukia didn’t, and in the next second Rangiku elbowed the boy in the ribs and must have pointed her out because next thing she knew his eyes were meeting hers across the room and her heart did some kind of triple lutz in her chest. His brows which were just a shade darker than his hair seemed to lift for a second as their eyes met and she offered him a slightly playful smile. Her eyes quickly glanced over the rest of him, it was hard to tell from what he was wearing but it was clear he had an athletic build so he likely wasn’t a member of a curling team.

She was about to meet his gaze again when Gin literally pulled her around.

‘Please, ah’m beggin you, she’s watching us and laughing, can you please not stare?’ he had a hand on each of her shoulders and Rukia was sure it was taking all his will power not to shake her.

‘I wasn’t staring at your woman,’ she huffed after a second resisting the urge the twist out of his hold like a stubborn child.

‘Who are we staring at?’ Soi Fon asked, moderately interested and looking for any excuse to get away from Renji and Ichigo who were now kissing the fuck out of each other in a way that should have been shielded from innocent eyes.

‘Gin’s woman crush, Rangiku Matsumoto,’ Rukia chuckled watching as Gin’s cheeks dusted a darker shade of red.

‘You say tha’ like ah’m gonna have ah crush on anything other than ah woman,’ he glared down at Rukia who laughed and turned to Soi Fon.

‘Yeah she’s my woman crush too,’ Soi Fon sighed blissfully and the two girls turned to watch as Rangiku spoke to the shorter white haired guy about something.

‘I feel like I’m missing out,’ Rukia huffed, ‘should she be mine too?’

‘Please. Stop. Staring,’ Gin gritted out starting to sound more pissed off now.

‘Who are you staring at?’ Ichigo asked and his Australian drawl sparked a curiosity in Rukia. She’d never really considered what accents were and weren’t attractive, she always held a special place in her head for the Scottish because it was the strongest accent Gin had when they first met. She also liked a few of the Canadian accents but that strong Australian accent… she could easily get down with that.

‘Why does everyone from Australia have to be so unfairly attractive?’ Soi Fon huffed, Ichigo blinked down at her for a second before he laughed.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

‘I mean look at you all,’ she waved a hand at Ichigo who was clearly attractive, even Rukia had to admit it, Renji was a lucky guy. He was tall (but shorter than Renji) had a fine slim build and a natural tan that made his bright strawberry blond hair stand out against his slightly darker skin. He also had a stunning smile, mouth full of pearly white teeth and perfectly kept eyebrows for a man.

Then there was of course Rangiku whose long strawberry blond hair fell down in perfect part curls like she just walked out of a page of vogue magazine and the boy beside her... Rukia resisted the urge to stare at him again.

‘We are ah little rough around th’ edges in comparison,’ Gin chuckled dryly though he didn’t sound too happy about it. Rukia knew why, Renji looked like he belonged in a gang with hair that wild and tattoos all over his body. Soi Fon looked like she could have been in the military for her haircut, sharp eyes and pointed chin, Gin’s unnaturally tall appearance could be a shock to someone at the best of times with his slanted eyes he was often the brunt of a bit of racist abuse too. Then there was Rukia the literal definition of a feisty fire midget.

‘Well I don’t think so,’ Ichigo frowned and then smiled sheepishly up at Renji, ‘besides they say opposites attract right?’

‘Those are two contradictory statements,’ Soi Fon huffed under her breath before Rukia hushed her. As she did so she turned back towards the Australian group and as if sensing her eyes on him, the white haired guy turned and smiled her way. He was so pretty it should have damn well been illegal, no one should be allowed to look that good in a yellow beanie, ever.

‘Is it th’ white haired kid you’ve been staring at?’ Gin asked and she confirmed his observations with a smirk.

‘Hm?’ Ichigo asked as he glanced over, ‘oh that’s Toshiro,’ he said his name and Rukia knew she’d likely forget it. ‘I can put a good word in for you if you want?’ he chuckled and Rukia rolled her eyes turning away from the attractive man.

‘Nah she doesn’t go for guys she likes,’ Gin chuckled and Ichigo blinked, very obviously confused.

‘What he means is I tend not to go for men who will attract too much attention, if I’m hooking up with someone it’s best they’re not too attractive and not too famous,’ she felt the need to clarify. The more attractive someone was or the more famous someone was the more likely news would get back to her brother about her nightly activities. As much as she enjoyed winding him up, she wouldn’t put it past him to put some kind of tracker on her phone and storm into whatever hotel room she ended up in during the night.

‘Ah,’ Ichigo replied but Renji soon distracted him again.

Rukia had already made her decision, she’d love to sleep with him; he was stunning, likely had an accent that could melt butter and a head full of hair worth tugging on in the throes of sex, which is exactly why she’d wouldn’t be sleeping with him. There were plenty of other more average looking guys around.

‘So I’ll see you later,’ Ichigo mumbled against Renji’s lips.

‘Sure thing handsome,’ he chuckled and literally smacked Ichigo’s ass as he walked away causing the Aussie to yelp in surprise and… delight? Hard to say, Rukia tried to drown it out while Gin barked something about ‘decorum’ to Renji.

It was no surprise based on what she’d learned that Rangiku Matsumoto was to be the flag carrier for their country. It was pretty impressive actually, considering how much larger the Australian team was compared to their own. Renji got ready with his flag and the opening ceremony began. The air became pliable with the athletes excitement and the room they were in had the lights dimmed and the athletes turned their attention to large TV screens as the ceremony started. They were watching the live broadcast that was being sent live worldwide and that made Rukia tingle with nerves and excitement in a way that she’d almost lost with her sport. A video displaying Switzerland and its many sights started playing then led on to tell a story of five children each scouring the country to find the colour lost from the ring of the Olympics, the story was heart-warming but there were a lot of political themes.

The rings colours had been lost because of war, racism, discrimination, terrorism and hypocrisy. It wasn’t blatantly told in words but anyone watching could clearly see that’s what they were aiming for. At the end of the video the five children took their colour into the actual stadium where the ceremony was being held and everyone in the stadium including the athletes all cheered and clapped loudly. The hush fell back over the audience as each child took their colour to the rings in the centre, the colours effectively powering them and as each ring filled with colour it floated up into the air to form the five rings of the Olympics which were then lit on fire. 

Rukia clapped and cheered along with everyone else as the athletes were then announced and as per tradition Greece was the first country to walk out. The athletes from Greece looked beside themselves as they got ready, to their right a massive door opened to reveal the stadium and Greece was led out to massive cheers from the audience members. The Olympic tradition meant that the countries were announced in alphabetical order of the host nation’s language. For Switzerland that was French so the next team announced to leave was the Albanian team. After a couple more countries were announced, the Australian team were finally given the green light to head out and Rukia watched them go, the entire team being led out by a beaming Rangiku waving the flag proudly for all to see.

Rukia watched them go, the entire team pulling out tiny little Australian flags from various pockets and looking more excited than children who had been granted all you can eat access in a candy store. They practically bounded out behind Rangiku, with smiles on their faces. Soi Fon had been right, the entire team seemed unfairly attractive.

Not being able to shake the white haired kid from her thoughts though, Rukia watched as team after team left the stadium and followed up by watching on the big screen the journey they took through the arena as they were led to their seats by their guide. Some countries got a massive applause as they went out, usually the larger teams such as the American and Canadian teams. The smaller countries got very little, but it was to be expected. After all people would only travel if there were a lot of events on for their country. 

Eventually Irelands turn came and the tiny team made their way out into the arena, beaming and waving at everyone in the stadium. Gin pulled out his phone, forever the selfie queen and Rukia thought he was going to take a selfie when he started recording a video instead. She laughed and stuck her face into his tiny screen, he held his phone up away from his body so he could angle it down because she was so short in comparison to him.

‘We’re here at the Olympics!’ Gin barked at the screen but Rukia wasn’t sure if they’d be able to hear his voice over the sound of the music and the audience chanting. ‘Rukia how dae yeh feel?’ he asked tilting his screen more towards her and she smirked up at it.

‘I feel like we’re going to win a few,’ she laughed boldly, hoping that no one could really hear what she said on camera, because she hadn’t meant to put any pressure on her team she just didn’t know what else to say in that moment. Eventually he shut out the video but kept his phone in his hand as they continued their walk.

There wasn’t much point in feeling self conscious about the size of their team, after all there were smaller teams than their own, a few countries only having one athlete; South Africa, Ghana and Madagascar to name a few.

Rukia tried her best to absorb the whole scene, walking side by side with Gin as he pointed out a section of the stadium where a couple of Irish flags had been raised, they waved even more dramatically in that direction as they made their way towards their seats. The next country was announced and the focus was soon off them, so Rukia relaxed a little watching as Renji waved the flag, his face full of pride. It made Rukia feel better about her decision to hand the flag over to him, she’d already had her chance, it would feel unfair to do it again.

‘Enjoying yourself?’ she asked Renji sneaking up behind him and he turned to her grinning.

‘More than you’ll know,’ he laughed back and Gin made an inappropriate joke about the size of Renji’s flag that had them all chuckling.

As soon as they got to the end of their walk, there were staff members guiding them to their seats. The whole process wasn’t massively smooth as a few countries before them were still being seated so they had to stand and wait, watching the ceremony on the massive TVs around the stadium. They obviously didn’t include the shot of all the athletes waiting to be seated, their seats reserved all around the lower part of the stadium.

‘Dae you think this will make it intae th’ extended edition?’ Gin breathed down into her ear, she burst out laughing. The thought was ridiculous and Gin could be very funny with his delivery when he wanted to be. She reached up and held onto his arm for a moment as she stopped laughing glancing up at the staff who had just finished seating Estonia. As the athletes had made their way around the stadium they broke off into one of five directions by their guides so that they weren’t completely backed up while trying to seat them. She couldn’t believe her luck as she glanced up and saw that Team Australia were also seated in this section. The larger team were sat at the far back, their athletes taking some pictures, some sipping on water that had been provided (or they’d snuck alcohol in, in flasks like the Irish had). She couldn’t stop her eyes from scanning them when she spotted Rangiku Matsumoto. She was sitting beside the gorgeous white haired guy again. The two were very obviously good friends. She was talking animatedly down at him and Rukia realised how tall the woman must have been.

‘Earth to Rukia,’ Gin called as she realised that Ireland were now being seated. She quickly scampered behind Gin so she could sit next to him.

‘What were you staring at?’ he asked turning to look towards where her eyes had wandered when she quickly distracted him back.

‘Nothing, thought I saw Takahashi,’ she laughed, ‘really stupid anyway do you have the flask?’ her distraction paid off and he grinned at her flashing the flask out the side of his pocket and quickly hiding it again before the staff caught him. She didn’t want Gin to know the Aussie team were sitting above them because then he’d spend his entire time trying to slouch down in his chair and freaking out that Rangiku would notice him. She didn’t want her friend to feel self-conscious and she knew how he could be with a pretty girl around, she’d seen him turn to a useless mess once before with his ex. She wanted him to enjoy this opening ceremony… so a little white lie wouldn’t put her in her friend’s bad books.

‘Who’s wanting some?’ Gin asked the moment the staff disappeared, he flashed the flask out his pocket again and Rukia grinned.

‘What is it?’ Soi Fon asked, with the air of someone who was about to brutally judge him based on his alcohol choice.

‘It’s a thirty six year old Scotch,’ he grinned and her mouth fell open.

‘Thirty six? Give me some,’ she held her hand out and after glancing back at the staff he passed the flask to Rukia to slip to Soi Fon. Keeping it covered with her gloves so the stag embroiled silver didn’t catch the lights she took a swig and let out a deep moan.

‘Tha’ sounded almost sexual,’ Gin grinned at her.

‘Fuck that’s good,’ she groaned hugging the flask until Renji ripped it away from her. The flask had been a gift for Gin’s 24th birthday, Rukia hadn’t known what else to get him but decided to go with something Scottish that he could bring to the Olympics. It had been perfect.

‘Where did you get a thirty six year old whisky?’ Rukia asked him and he grinned.

‘My Da’s got connections,’ he grinned at her, ‘I brought the whole bottle.’

‘Yes,’ she breathed taking the flask from Renji and hoping no one was watching as she held it up to her lips and took a massive gulp. It wasn’t normally her drink of choice, but even she could appreciate a good whisky when she tried one. The alcohol burned in the back of her throat in a way that only a 47% alcoholic substance could. She passed the flask back to Gin to drink from and each breath of cool hair past her lips seemed to warm up in her mouth much quicker. The flask between them wouldn’t be wasted, but they might by the end of it.

As the ceremony continued around them, Rukia quickly glanced back towards the Aussie team while Gin was distracted. She instantly made eye contact with the white haired boy from earlier who flashed a quick smile before turning his attention back to the ceremony. Rukia wasn’t sure if he’d been staring at her or if it had just been a fluke that she’d turned at the exact moment he had. She watched him for a moment longer though while his attention was diverted elsewhere.

It was like looking at someone preparing a beautiful barbeque while you were on a diet. It was torture, the juicy burger being pressed just the right amount against the grill, letting some of the juices flow out into the lapping flames. Those beautiful scorch marks running the length of the meat, the cheese being put on before it’s removed to let it melt just the right amount before all the relish was applied.

She turned away and sighed deeply, longingly.

‘Wha’s wrong?’ Gin asked noticing her sigh.

‘I really want a fucking burger,’ she huffed and he just blinked down at her in confusion. It did lead them onto an interesting topic of discussion though as Soi Fon was a vegan and the little debate that ensued saw them through the rest of the opening ceremony.

‘Vegans are fine,’ Gin finally relented, ‘it’s Facebook vegans ah hate.’ He said rather loudly as they stood up to depart. There were no staff members guiding them to come out row at a time so everyone was just making their own ways towards the exits. ‘Facebook vegans are tae veganism wha’ Isis is tae Islam.’

Rukia barked a laugh at that, rather loudly and quickly covered her mouth knowing that the Aussie team were somewhere in the crowd as well.

‘It’s true,’ he huffed, ‘ah small but loud persistent minority who missed th’ point eh th’ original peaceful message and now for some reason are choosing tae take it out on bacon.’ His arm caught Rukia gently and she blinked up at him watching his eyes go wide as he stopped her from walking forward. She glanced to see Rangiku brush passed them, offering him a smile as he let her go first, she was followed by the white haired kid and _oh_ all the jokes Rukia could make about wanting meat rested deliciously on her tongue.

There was no way she was letting Gin know her thoughts so before he could notice the longing in her eyes as she stared greedily after the beautiful white haired man she turned the tables on him.

‘Aww you’re such a gentleman,’ she chuckled up at him.

‘Ah am,’ he sighed letting his breath out now that the majority of the Aussie team were gone, they stepped out into the line of people and Renji somehow managed to get in line with Ichigo.

‘Makes a change me being on top for once,’ Ichigo chuckled, that thick Australian accent washing over them again. A few people around them who had heard the joke were laughing, including Rukia.

‘Dae you think she noticed us when she was sitting up there?’ Gin asked, leaning down into Rukia’s space so she could hear him.

‘To be honest, I don’t see why she’d have reason to notice us at all,’ she shrugged her shoulders, ‘unless she was looking at Renji?’

‘Yeah but ah’m freakishly tall,’ he huffed slouching even further down in the crowd now, ‘wha’ if she thought ah looked weird?’

‘Look,’ Rukia said with a huff, she knew he’d react like this which is why she hadn’t informed him where they were sitting, ‘not to be mean but if she’s as big a champion as you say she is I doubt she’s going to give a shit about our tiny little country. I think to assume she even noticed us is a tiny bit egotistical.’

‘Yeah,’ he muttered, ‘yeah you’re probably right.’

‘I’m a woman of course I’m right,’ that earned her some weird looks from one of the other countries as they walked through the passage ways towards the exit, ‘besides she probably noticed that little act of chivalry of you letting her walk first more than she would have anything else.’

‘Yeh think?’ he asked, his eyes getting wider and more hopeful. Rukia was a sucker for those eyes, she smiled up at him.

‘Absolutely, regardless of what women say, we’re suckers for basic human decency. A guy who helps an old woman cross a road while carrying her bags will always be ten times more attractive than a man who starts a fight just to show off how strong he is.’ He seemed pleased with her response and straightened up properly as they made their way back to their hotel.

It didn’t take them long to meet up with Byakuya, Urahara and Ukitake. Instantly Byakuya was scolding Gin for having taken his phone out, despite several other countries having done the same. They did what they do best; ignored him and his complaining all the way back to the hotel. At one point Rukia resisted taking out her own phone to film her brothers outburst just for the views she’d get on Instagram.

Once they got to the hotel, they paused outside while Ichigo and Renji exchanged goodbyes, the coaches going ahead to their rooms.

‘I’ll see you soon then handsome?’ Renji asked with a grin while Soi Fon gagged behind them.

‘I’ll see you at the party,’ the strawberry blond grinned back at him.

‘You’re all coming right?’ Renji asked turning to them.

‘Of course,’ Gin grinned and Soi Fon nodded eagerly beside him when they turned to Rukia.

‘I don’t know,’ she frowned, she had her heat early the next day and though she’d love to go out and get laid she usually preferred to save it for the free skate. Plus the ladies were up first meaning that her ice time in the morning was limited and very early during the day. ‘I think I’ll give it a miss tonight and catch the next one?’

‘Oh my god who are you and wha’ have you done with Rukia?’ Gin asked, mock shock in his voice. She rolled her eyes and shoved him.

‘You know I usually don’t when it’s an early start,’ she reminded him. There were four sections to ice skating; ladies single, mens single, ice dancers and pair skaters. When the women performed second, third or fourth she’d usually be up for a late night, but first thing was hard work.

‘Yeah but it’s the openin’ night eh th’ Olympics Rukia, c’mon,’ he whined, ‘ah need mah wingman!’

‘We’ll see, I’ll go and get ready and if I’m feeling up to it I’ll maybe meet you there,’ she finally agreed. The boys and girls split ways in the hallway, sharing different rooms and Rukia threw herself down onto the bed face first the moment their door was closed. She was quite tired.

‘If you stay there you won’t get back up,’ Soi Fon said as she stripped off to put something a little more appropriate on for the party. Not that they had much, most of the space of their suitcases were taken up with gear and equipment so not much room left for fancy outfits.

‘I know,’ Rukia groaned into her pillow, next to sex, sleep was one of the best things in life. The beds were small doubles, room enough for her to sprawl out if she wanted and the temptation to stay in was so strong but she also knew that Gin would never forgive her.

She stood up and pulled off her thick ass coat, and changed into something a little more comfortable; a pair of tight leggings that were part of their Irish attire and a dark blue jumper with a clover on it.

‘Wow, those leggings really don’t leave much to the imagination do they?’ Soi Fon asked, her eyes lingering a little longer than Rukia was comfortable with on her backside. She sat cross legged on the bed and watched as Soi Fon floundered about what to wear instead of replying, helping the fussy girl as best as she could.

‘I’ll probably check in with my brother prior to my short programme tomorrow,’ she said, not really looking forward to any kind of interaction with him. ‘Don’t wait for me,’ she said making sure that Soi Fon would head off to the party with the boys. She slipped out their room and knocked gently on the door she assumed belonged to her brother, it did read ‘Irish coaches’ after all. Ukitake opened the door and greeted her with a big smile.

‘Hello Rukia, we were just making some tea would you care to join us?’ she glanced in to see Urahara sprawled on his bed, hat over his face and looking like he was asleep.

‘No I’m fine, where is my brother?’ she asked and Ukitake pointed her in the direction of another door. She thanked him and went and knocked on that door. Her brother answered looking more sullen than usual and Rukia just knew this was going to be an _exciting_ conversation. She gritted her teeth as he closed the door again to undo the chain before opening it fully. She stepped in and glared around the room.

He had a suite. Like an actual suite, with his own little kitchen area, couch with a table, TV and his own bedroom detached from the rest of the living space.

‘What the hell?’ she barked.

‘Language,’ he scolded her instantly, sweeping back into his room in his long robes and sitting elegantly on the sofa. Rukia’s eyes did another dance around the room and her hands clasped into fists. The bitch had a bloody balcony.

‘Did you come here to speak about your short programme?’ he asked, but they were way beyond that.

‘How did you pay for this suite?’ she asked, trying not to let the quake in her voice show. His raised eyebrows told her that he heard it anyway.

‘With our sponsor money,’ he said.

“‘ _Our?’”_ she asked.

‘Yes,’ he sat back in the couch and eyed her, his hands clasping on his lap, ‘you could not get the sponsors without my negotiations.’

‘My ass,’ she barked and he narrowed his eyes, ‘I get along with my sponsors just fine I don’t need you to speak to them on my behalf.’

‘Oh?’ there was a slight twitch to his lips as though what she’d said amused him and it just served to make her ten times angrier. ‘Tell me how do you entertain your sponsors at the banquets when you’re too busy shoving your tongue down a strangers throat?’

She stared at him dumb struck, her brother rarely ever used language like that. He’d obviously done it for a reaction. This is what their relationship had devolved into. Even if he did have a point there was a lot more to this argument than speaking to her sponsors at a banquet.

‘You talk to them once a year at the banquet congratulations,’ she snapped, ‘that doesn’t give you the right.’ This had been boiling over for a while now, ‘it gives you no right to freeze my accounts and use my money for your own personal benefits.’ She felt like she could rip her own hair out with how frustrated she was. ‘You sit on this pedestal and think you’re way above everyone else.’

‘Watch yourself, I will not be spoken to like that,’ he said standing up now, using his full height to seem more intimidating but Rukia wouldn’t stand for it.

‘My sponsors love me because I engage with them and their products actively on social media, I attend everything they ask me to do including that stupid Olympic commercial.’ She threw her hands up in the air, ‘I don’t need you to do any of that for me and I certainly don’t need you to go around blowing my money on your own selfish whims.’

‘You give into your own selfish whims all the time,’ he narrowed his eyes again at her, ‘if I’m not mistaken.’

‘Fuck you,’ she hissed, turning on her heel to leave.

‘Where do you think you’re going? I’m not done speaking to you yet.’ He called after her but she’d already slammed his door shut. Ukitake and Urahara and a couple of others were out in the hallway watching her as she stormed angrily by them. Her brother was such an asshole, he’d been in charge of her assets since she’d been too young to manage her own accounts. Rukia wasn’t good with money so she’d stupidly let him remain in charge of most of it, not wanting to hurt his feelings by taking full control back but now. It would be something she’d do the moment they made it back to Ireland. He was willing to spend her money on something this petty to… what? Make her mad? Then she loathed to think what the hell he was doing with the rest of it.

In her anger she’d stormed passed her own bedroom and realised that her feet were taking outside. She hadn’t even stopped off to pick a jacket up, but she did pull her phone out of her pocket and text Gin.

**_Rukia 23:43pm_ **

_Where are you?_

**_Big G 23:43pm_ **

_YASSS GURL ;)_

_We’re at the bar place we saw earlier. They search you for alcohol as you come in but the guy with the blond hair takes a bribe._

**_Rukia 23:44pm_ **

_Be there soon._

**_Big G 23:44pm_ **

_Also your little white haired boi is here ;)_

_He’s talkin’ to Rangiku_

As she read the words about the white haired guy being there she seemed to be filled with a new determination. There was a rebellious fire inside her right now and she was out to break all the rules.

_All of them._

**_Rukia 23:45pm_ **

_Are they dating?_

**_Big G 23:47pm_ **

_Nah they’re just friends, I stalked their Instagram._

_It’s as platonic as me ‘n you :)_

Good, Rukia thought, there was no way she was going to bang a guy who was already taken… and there was no way she was going to do what she was about to do in front of his potential girlfriend. She walked straight up to the bar security officers who were checking peoples bags before letting them in. She spotted the blond haired guy Gin had referred too who would take a bribe but the other guy with dark hair clocked her first. His eyes lit up like most fans normally did when they saw her.

‘Rukia Kuchiki,’ he practically squealed, ‘please go right in,’ he quickly pulled the door open for her to walk in and she made a mental note of that for later. Maybe she didn’t get searched because she wasn’t carrying a bag and as Soi Fon had mentioned her leggings didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. Whatever his reasoning she was thankful as she walked into the warm crowded air of the bar. She needed to keep the adrenaline pumping through her veins right now, it was her own version of liquid courage. That and just maybe the 36 year old Scotch was catching up to her. Violet eyes scanned the various countries that were all mingling, searching for familiar colours and soon she spotted them.

The blinding white hair, now free from its beanie seemed to defy the law of gravity and a soft smile on his face as he looked up at Rangiku. The girl seemed to be talking to him animatedly about something, just a tiny bit behind them at the bar was Ichigo and Renji, Gin and Soi Fon. She could tell by the look on Gin’s face he was nervous about getting too close to Rangiku.

Rukia’s eyes snapped back to the white haired guy. This would be who she’d sleep with tonight, she wasn’t really about to give him much of a choice either, but she’d forgot his name.

‘You!’ she shouted, a little louder than she’d intended as there was a lull in the music at that exact moment. Half the room turned to look at her, including the white haired man. His bright eyes going round with shock for a moment before blinking dumbly in her direction. She realised she was now marching towards him with purpose and it must have looked odd, like she was about to slap him. Around her she could feel the gazes of everyone who had heard her call out, including their two countries teams, but her eyes were focused only on him. As she approached him, he opened his mouth to speak, a slight parting of his lips that she put to much better use as her hands found either side of his face and pulled it down to meet hers, crushing their lips together.

It was glorious. His skin was as smooth as she thought and the sound of shocked gasps and laughing and cheering around them fizzled out into the feeling of his breath infiltrating her mouth. It was beyond intoxicating but he seemed to be in shock. It took his arms just a second to catch up with what was happening. Then she felt them wrap securely around her waist and pull her flush against him. She could feel his body heat through his trousers and the shirt that now pressed against his chest. Their lips started to move in tandem with each other, opening and closing and as if in sync their tongues met in the middle like they’d both been judging the timing right to deepen things. The brush of his tongue against hers was lewd and served to drag more of his delicious flavour into her mouth. She was stubborn though and fought back to regain control. He seemed to relent and allowed her full access to his own mouth as her hands slipped around the back of his head and into his hair. His tongue seemed to recognise the foreign object on her tongue and he swiped carefully at the metal bar, exploring it eagerly as the appendages danced in his mouth. His thick white locks felt full between her fingers and she tugged a little letting his head tilt back. That’s when she realised he’d hoisted her off the ground and into his arms, she resisted the urge to wrap her legs around him because she wanted to get him out of that room and out of those clothes as soon as possible. She pulled back finally, breaking the kiss and left the two gasping for air. His face was flushed, the colour contrasting beautifully with his dark turquoise green eyes, his lips rosy red and plump from their kissing and his eyes a little dazed as they stared up at her.

‘Do you find me attractive?’ she asked, just trying to get a feel for where they stood. He swallowed and nodded his head after a second. ‘Do you want to take me home?’

‘Yes,’ he replied, the first proper word she’d heard him say and his Aussie accent sent a shiver of delight down her spine. Definitely one of her favourite accents, it sounded so good she reached back down and kissed him once more, deeply, as if trying to _taste_ the accent on his lips. This time when she pulled away she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth for a short second to abuse it with her tongue. Rukia slipped down his body, landing on her feet as she broke the kiss gazing up at him.

‘Let’s go,’ she said reaching down to grab one of the hands that had been wrapped around her waist and turned around to lead him in the direction of the exit. There was more cheering and clapping around them, which she managed to drown out by sheer determination.

Someone behind them shouted something and she turned back to see his attention turned towards Rangiku, hand outstretched as she tossed him his jacket. He caught it easily and Rukia’s eyes fell on the tall woman for a split second. She looked incredibly proud as she beamed at them, her perfect lips tilted up into a smug smile. She looked far too happy for them and Rukia was sure there was a bigger story behind that smile. 

With his jacket safely in hand he turned back towards Rukia who practically dragged him out of the crowded space, maybe a little too eagerly. She really hoped that Gin would take the chance to approach Rangiku now that she clearly didn’t have her best friend around to chat too. Gin could over talk when he was nervous but he was a lovely person and would make Rangiku feel safe more so than half the other guys who seemed to be eyeing her up in there.

‘Which hotel?’ she asked as they got outside and glanced between the two buildings. Her eyes naturally fell on the hotel she’d come from, both of the buildings were tall and grand, stretching up into the dark snowy sky above them.

‘That one,’ he nodded toward the opposite hotel and she tried not to think of the long walk she’d have to take later on that night. He seemed to sense her urgency and his footsteps sped up so he wasn’t being dragged by her anymore, but they both walked together side by side in the direction of the massive building. She looked ahead, determinedly. The building wasn’t that far away but she shivered as they crossed a large path.

‘Do you want my jacket?’ he asked. _God that fucking accent._ She bit the inside of her lip and shook her head as he held it out for her. Now wasn’t the time for him to be a gentleman too.

A guy that attractive wasn’t allowed to be single _and_ kind. There had to be a defect somewhere! Maybe he had a small dick? Her brain supplied for her and she really hoped not. Not that size mattered as it wasn’t about the dick but how you used it, but Rukia would be lying if she said she didn’t appreciate the drag of a nice big coc-

‘Here,’ he said holding the door open with a smile, interrupting her inner musing. She brushed passed him and into the lobby, only paying half attention to her surroundings as he led her toward the elevators at the back.

‘So, do I get your name?’ he asked smiling at her as the elevator opened and he pressed a button for their floor.

‘My name?’ she smirked at him, his face flushed with the cold and the pink in his lips starting to settle. She needed to correct that. ‘You have to earn it,’ she turned toward him and pressed up against him into the wall of the elevator. His eyes went wide at the challenge but he was still an athlete and she could see the silent acceptance in his gaze.

‘Oh,’ was all he said before they were kissing again and Rukia wasn’t really sure who had initiated it first this time but it was hot and dirty. His hands roaming her back as his tongue infiltrated her mouth, his breath breathing new life into her lungs and setting a fire through her very core. They almost missed their floor as the elevator doors opened had it not been for someone walking by and telling them to “get a room”.

They stumbled out onto the floor and he led her quickly down a hallway, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his room key, quickly swiping the door open. Now Rukia understood why Rangiku had tossed him the jacket back, what an awkward situation it would have been if they’d had to go back to hers instead and run into her brother. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind as they made their way quickly inside and he flicked on the lamp.

‘Do you want a glass of wine?’ he turned and smiled at her and Rukia rolled her eyes trying to keep the smile off her face.

‘That’s not really why I’m here,’ she reminded him quickly. He was far too kind, but he didn’t need to be. She’d been in this position plenty of times before, guys thinking they needed to be polite to get her into bed when she was already willing.

‘Alright,’ he said likely because he didn’t really know how else to respond so she just pushed him up against the wall and ravished him. Her fingers threading back through his white hair and her lips back on his. This was exactly how she wanted to spend their time, not sitting on the bed getting to know each other, drinking wine and falling asleep together before anything happened.

She was here to have sex with him, to break one of her own personal rules and piss her brother off… also because he was really fucking hot and she’d literally been thinking about him all day. Chances were even if she’d found someone else she’d likely just have been picturing him. He was definitely her new masturbation material.

His hands wrapped around her once again, this time growing bolder he reached under the hem of her jumper, his cold fingers brushing against her warm skin and causing her to shiver against his lips. She broke apart the kiss to reach down and pull the jumper up off the top of her head discarding it onto the floor somewhere. She was left in a very thin fabric dark blue t shirt and her leggings, his eyes seemed to travel down her body as she turned her attention back to him. Rukia could only imagine the body he was hiding under the shirt and she was desperate to see it. She stepped back towards him and this time his head ducked down to capture her lips, he was clearly trying to slow things down, his lips moving a little slowly against hers. She was happy with the pace for now because it meant her hands could easily undo the buttons on his shirt. She slowly stripped them down, one button at a time and resisted the urge to break away to see him slowly being revealed. She held on until the last possible moment, when the last button was undone and his shirt fell open against the wall on either side of his body she reached up to shove the shirt off his shoulders. Breaking the kiss finally and gasping the air into her lungs she pulled back and clenched her jaw.

He was obviously very well-toned, not in the lean way that figure skaters were but not in a massively bulky way either. He had a very light set of abs but it was his pecks, his shoulders, his arms that held most of the muscle tone. He had a large snowflake tattoo on the inside of his forearm and some other words she couldn’t comprehend written on the side of his ribs, disappearing under his arm where it rested at his side. Her eyes travelled over his body greedily and he seemed content to let her gaze explore, only gasping a little as her cold hands made contact with his bare skin. Her hands fell lower and she stepped back, her eyes going wide.

He had a V muscle she was pretty sure she could cut herself on. Suddenly for once in her life she felt a little self-conscious, the feeling was completely alien to her. She’d always known she had a beautifully lean figure, never really doubting that she was in some way attractive to the opposite sex but now, now… for the first time she was having doubts.

‘Now you have to take yours off,’ he was grinning down at her, his eyes full of mischief. He was so painfully attractive it wasn’t even fair. Though his smug little look was totally playful and she realised that was obviously a big part of his nature. He seemed like a playful kind of guy, from the weird dancing he’d been doing when she first saw him to this now, it seemed to fit.

She was losing control of the situation and goodness only knows she hated that feeling. Summoning back her courage she smirked up at him and nodded her head towards the bed.

‘Sit,’ she instructed him. He did as he was told slipping past her and towards the bed where he sat leaning back on his arms and looking unbelievably sexy. Like if someone had taken a picture from her fantasies and stuck it directly under her nose. His core muscles were engaged and he even tilted his neck a little exposing that delicious throat of his.

Did he have any idea just what he was doing to her? The playful look in his eyes suggested he maybe had an idea and Rukia was about to kiss that smug looking grin right off his stupidly sexy face. From now on she wasn’t allowed to look at him, if she could avoid it. She realised she was standing here just staring at him and it was where her control was slipping.

Rukia moved over him and instantly straddled his lap, feeling a lot more in control in this position and he pushed himself up to wrap his arms around her. At this angle her face was just a little above his as she reached down to kiss his lips again. She could tell he was smiling as their lips met and her stomach clenched at the thought, okay from now on she absolutely wasn’t allowed to just look at him.

Her tongue infiltrated his mouth and he happily accepted it, his own brushing against hers eagerly as they began to build up the heat between them. Her hands slipped around his shoulders and down around his back, mapping out the contours of his muscles under his skin as he moved, his own hands wrapping around her and reaching down to grab her ass. She smirked into his mouth as he let out a tiny groan, his hands massaging her backside and she let him. Rukia pulled back after a moment but didn’t meet his gaze instead keeping her eyes shut as she quickly pulled her top up over her head and tossing it onto the floor. She watched it for a moment, and then her hands reached around her back and undid the clasp of her bra in one fluid movement. She turned back to him, he was staring down her body and his hands slipped away as she slid off his lap and made quick work removing the leggings that she’d been wearing until she was standing completely naked in front of him. Feeling braver now, she straddled his lap again and pulled his chin up to meet his lips, forcing his gaze away from the rest of her body. His hands wrapped around her, cradling her close and exploring her back, he pulled away and she watched him for a second as he glanced over her shoulder, his mouth falling open at something behind them. She quickly turned only to see their reflection in a mirror behind them.

His face in the mirror was priceless.

If he wanted to stare, she wasn’t going to stop him, she turned back to see his neck a little exposed as he tilted his head to see into the mirror. Once he was over his initial shock she felt his fingers softly trace the Japanese characters on her spine. She decided to take full advantage of his distraction and brought her lips down on the skin of his neck. Involuntarily or not his hips bucked just a little and she could feel the obvious bulge in his trousers. That was to be expected of course, she’d be a little worried at this point if he wasn’t at least a little hard. Rukia ground down on his lap and he let out a low moan, the sound going straight to her own groin. She could practically feel herself pulsing with a need to be filled, to feel the slide and drag of his cock inside of her but she swallowed it down. Soon.

Rukia instead focused more entirely on his neck, sucking a little at the flesh but stopping before it would leave an angry bruise as opposed to a little pink mark that would likely fade overnight. She knew just the right pressure to apply and soon he was tilting his neck back more to allow her access. She continued down around his neck searching for a spot he’d enjoy the most, stopping for a moment to place a weirdly tender kiss on his adam’s apple as he tilted his head even further back. His spot arrived the moment her lips made contact with his collar bone, jutting from his neck and delectable.

She certainly paused to give it the attention it was due, her hands keeping her steady by wrapping around his biceps and helping to ground her.

‘Fuck,’ he moaned as she ground down against his hardening length, her tongue swiping along his collar bone. It was more than she could bear, the low sultry Australian accent rolling off his tongue and doing things to her. Unable to wait much longer, her right hand removed itself from his bicep and made its way down between her legs. She pushed up to give herself a bit more height finding his lips once again and meeting them eagerly. This time he seemed a little more desperate, kissing back with equal passion, she pressed two of her own fingers inside herself and though it may have been an awkward angle it was exactly what she was craving. She choked back a moan into his mouth and let his tongue infiltrate her, giving him a moments control over the kiss as she focused her actions elsewhere.

Most men never really spent the time properly preparing a girl before just trying to stick it in. It usually made for less than enjoyable sex, so she’d taken to doing it herself most of the time. Unless the guy was really eager and didn’t make it feel like he was looking for change in a vending machine. Rukia gently stretched her walls apart, there was literally no burn, only total pleasure. Her walls were soft and warm and ready, wanting something bigger, needing something bigger. She finally broke away from the kiss and stupidly glanced down at him, his pupils were dilated, the beautiful deep turquoise almost taken up entirely by black. His lips much more red than they had been after their kiss at the bar and his cheeks flushed, the contrast to his white hair making him look (if at all possible) even more attractive.

Fuck, she wasn’t allowed to look at him, she groaned as she thrust a third finger into herself and he blinked as if trying to come out of a daze when he glanced down between them to see what she was doing. His mouth fell open and that look of shock was completely adorable.

‘Oh,’ was his coherent response as she groaned, her fingers slipping in and out of her own body as he watched her. His hands came to her ass, needing an anchor to hold onto and his fingers splayed across her flesh. There was something licentious about him watching her, something she was sure she could easily get off to if she allowed her thumb a chance to properly explore her clit. Alas she was here for his pleasure just as much as her own and she was going to wreck him, so she pulled her fingers out of herself and tried not to get any of the wetness on her fingers on his sheets as she leaned back.

‘I brought a condom,’ she said glancing around for her jumper that had her pocket with her phone, room key and the condom inside it.

‘I can’t use them,’ he said and she froze. Fuck, had she come all this way and they couldn’t have sex? Seriously? Because she refused to have sex without one, STDs were a thing and she was clean and planned on keeping it that way. He seemed to sense her panic and his hands came to rest on her hips, his thumbs rubbing into her skin. ‘I mean,’ he lifted his chin as she turned to look at him again properly, ‘I brought my own.’

‘Oh,’ she leaned back as he nodded his head in the direction of his side table. Well that was perfectly acceptable, she didn’t care what kind of condoms they used as long as they used one. Maybe he was allergic and had to use a particular brand? She didn’t feel like asking as she crawled across his bed and opened his top drawer with her clean hand and pulled out the first box she could find.

She recognised the colours instantly, gold and black; magnum. Just how big was he? She glanced at him, spotting him stuffing his watch and something else into his shoe before dropping it on the floor. She leaned back and sat on his lap throwing the box down on the bed where they’d be within reach. He was smiling sheepishly up at her, looking so innocent like he wasn’t hiding a monster cock in his trousers. Now she wanted to see it but he seemed to have other plans, his hands were sliding up her leg and his eyes travelled down her body.

‘May I?’ he asked, his thumb stroking the inside of her thigh dangerously close.

‘Sure,’ she mumbled, knowing that this was going to shift the control dynamic slightly but also aware that if he was quite big she’d probably need a bit more preparation than she’d given herself. His hands slid under her and his two fingers entered her with ease, she gasped at the feeling, her walls hugging the intrusion but also accepting it easily as he pulled out and thrust three in. His fingers were naturally just a little thicker than hers so the stretch was greater but not completely unwelcome. He slowly started to test her by spreading his fingers inside her, gently, just for a few seconds before allowing his fingers to come together again, then repeating the actions. He’d done this before, she could tell. He was very fucking good at it.

‘Oh,’ she gasped her head falling back and her hand coming to rest on his shoulder to support herself. He seemed to understand she needed a little help, his free arm wrapping around her so she wouldn’t fall back. She bit down on her lip to stop anymore noises escaping her lips as he continued to stretch her, his thumb rubbing up against her clit in just the right way.

Fuck.

The world could be so cruel, how could this guy be an Olympic athlete, with a face carved from marble, a body to match, a big dick and how the hell could he be good at sex, good at kissing, kind and still be _single?_

Maybe that was his flaw, maybe there was a girlfriend back home that wasn’t Rangiku that he was cheating on. That seemed to make him more human and less like a perfect angel in Rukia’s eyes. It certainly made her feel less superior. Better yet, maybe it wasn’t a girlfriend but a wife and he’d taken his ring off prior to coming here so he could get laid by a horde of women. Maybe this wife of his also had a sister dying of cancer and that’s why she couldn’t come to the Olympics but she trusted him enough to let him come alone. The snicker that slipped from her lips at the thought had him pausing in his actions.

‘Did I hurt you?’ he asked, his voice full of concern and that stupid Australian accent making her want to grind her hips back down onto her fingers.

‘No,’ she groaned, her voice a few octaves lower than she’d ever admit to anyone, ‘let’s get to the good stuff shall we?’ she said finally. He swallowed thickly and it took every drop of self-preservation not to watch the movement of his adam’s apple as he did.

Rukia slid gracefully off his lap as he removed his fingers and slid down onto the floor. She quickly reached across to her thin t shirt and used it to wipe off her fingers, she held it out for him but he just ignored her instead taking his own fingers into his mouth. Her eyes went wide and her lips parted in shock as she watched him lick around his own fingers to clean them, his eyes had that same playful mischief in them that she’d seen before.

Well _fuck._

That was kind of hot. She swallowed thickly and tore her eyes away from the obscene scene and back towards his trousers where the very obvious bulge was waiting to be freed. She reached up and unzipped him, sliding his trousers down. As she did so, she spotted how well toned his leg muscles were, more-so than his body. Maybe he was a skier or a snowboarder if he was good friends with Rangiku? She stopped trying to guess his sport because really, after tonight it wouldn’t matter and pulled his trousers off over his ankles before reaching back up to grasp the edges of his black boxers. He lifted his hips and allowed her to pull them down. It was a slow reveal and when his cock did bounce back against his stomach she paused for a brief moment. It wasn’t that he was long, he had girth. She was pretty sure it was the thickest cock she’d had, easily, and it would explain the need for the other condom brand. Once his boxers were moved off from his ankles she sat between his legs taking a moment to examine him.

It was a pretty cock as well, curving a little to the left where it rested against that beautiful V muscle of his. The tip was flushed red, pre-cum beading at the tip and dripping onto his stomach. His hair was neatly trimmed, the colour matching his head of white hair, but much more like his eye brows just a shade slightly darker. It was clear he took good care of it, not letting it grow wild and out of control like some guys did. 

This was pretty, she ran her fingers up the inside of his thighs as she moved up to straddle his legs. His cock twitched at the attention and her fingers soon wrapped around it causing him to gasp. Now that she had a hold of it, she could tell it was certainly the thickest she’d had. She couldn’t even wrap her thumb and middle finger around the base, there was still a good inch between her fingers. He seemed to sense her thinking though, for his next words were obviously to try and calm her.

‘We can keep prepping if you want,’ he drawled in that beautiful accent, ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’

‘You won’t,’ she sighed rocking back on her legs and leaning back, ‘besides I don’t mind if I can feel you tomorrow.’ She smirked to herself and he choked as she reached out for one of the condoms. He said nothing else as she opened one of the golden wrappers and slowly slid it on. She may have taken her time with the action, just enjoying having him in her hands and seriously she could feel her mouth watering. She was deeply resisting the urge to suck him off because she was sure her mouth would struggle with a cock that thick, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to run her tongue bar all over the right bits of it. She resisted that urge though, now growing impatient to have it inside her.

‘Wait,’ he said quickly leaning over towards the side table and opening the top drawer again, this time he pulled out a tiny travel bottle of lube and bit the lid off with his teeth. He looked like he was going to squeeze some onto his own hand to lube himself up but she wasn’t having any of that. Nudging his hand out the way he smirked around the lid between his lips as he pressed a few sprays into her waiting hand. She reached down and wrapped her hand around him, her mouth coming down to gently remove the lid from his lips. She enclosed her own teeth around it, her lips brushing his for a second as her hand stroked up and down his length lubing it up. It had been a very good idea and she mentally made a small note to invest in some herself in case she ever found herself in this situation again. She removed the lid from her own mouth with her hand as she pulled back and grabbed the base of his cock with her other. He reached out steadying her hips as she rose up onto her legs and hovered over him. She took a deep breath before she slowly started to sink down onto him, and oh, _oh_ did it feel good. The stretch to get around him burned a little but the lube made it so much more bearable. She bit her lower lip as she sunk down gently onto him and gasped a little as she got towards the base. He felt even bigger inside of her.

‘Take your time,’ he gritted out and she allowed her legs to slow the pace down until she was sitting down flush on his body again, this time with him buried inside her.

‘Fuck,’ she gasped and he reached out to her.

‘Are you okay? We can-’

‘Shut up,’ she groaned at him, finally opening her eyes to watch his concerned face, ‘god it feels so good.’ Clearly that hadn’t been the answer he’d been expecting as she took a second to grow used to the feeling. ‘I’m going to feel you all day tomorrow,’ she was mostly talking to herself now as she brought her hands up to grasp his shoulders, not caring that one hand was still covered with a bit of lube, she steadied herself using his body and rose up and slowly back down, testing out how it felt. The grind of his cock was lost a little amongst the condom and the lube but it still felt better than anything she’d had in her before.

He seemed to be letting her move at her own pace, she carefully avoided his gaze as she moved up and down, slowly starting to build a rhythm. Once she had started to get it going she turned back to him and quickly brought their lips together again. If she was kissing him, she wouldn’t have to look at his painfully attractive face. His pants into her mouth told her he was enjoying this just as much as she was. She clenched her walls around him and he choked on her tongue, her fingers threaded back through his thick white hair and tugged his head back, letting him know who was in complete control of this encounter. He didn’t seem to mind in the slightest though as she fucked herself on his cock, using his body to steady herself. His hands secured themselves close to her hips, the fingers spread out over her ass, if she didn’t know better she’d say he had a thing for her ass.

Their frantic kissing eventually just became panting into each other’s open mouths as she started to speed up. At one point he pulled back to take deep breaths, his gaze lingering over at the mirror she knew was behind them. She let him stare at it, if he was looking at that then it meant she could focus over his shoulder, rather than looking at his face. It didn’t last long though, her focus could only stay on the drag of his cock for so long before she decided she wanted to look at him again. She couldn’t resist, she shoved him back down against the bed, rather aggressively, causing him to grunt in surprise, and let her eyes rake over him. The flush from his cheeks had now extended down across his chest, the colour mixing with his slightly darker nipples. His arms were spread out on the bed painting a beautiful picture, she caught sight of another tattoo but her eyes were drawn back to his chest which glistened with sweat. She could see it beading on his forehead, as she glanced over his face his eyes meeting hers and they were dark with desire. She felt a twisting sensation in her stomach again as she ran her hands down his pecks, down across abs and along that beautiful V muscle.

‘Let’s put that to good use shall we,’ she mumbled eventually, preparing to change their position, she rolled off him and he was instantly hovering over her as if sensing what she was looking for. She smirked up at him as he positioned himself between her legs. The loss of his member inside her left feeling empty and she could feel herself clenching around nothing, waiting for the intrusion again. She held out an arm to stop him coming over her more and he blinked in confusion until she brought her leg up. Like right up beside her head and she almost burst out laughing at the look on his face. He stared dumbfounded at her flexibility for a moment, his eyes wide with shock and his beautiful plump little lips parted.

The picture was hilarious and it took everything she had not to laugh in his face. Eventually he seemed to snap out of his stupor and the more animalistic side of him took control. He leaned over her practically growling and she soon felt him press in against her entrance. This had been a good idea, in this position he could go even deeper, even if she couldn’t hold it for very long. He seemed to sense this though and began thrusting with enough force to push her up the bed. The two of them groaned at just how much deeper he was getting inside of her. He brought his head down and she bared her neck to him, knowing full well what she wanted. He seemed to get the hint and ducked down to trace his lips across the flesh of her exposed throat. She moaned as he found a particularly sensitive spot and began to abuse it with his lips and teeth while thrusting like his life depended on it. If he kept going at this brutal pace, she wouldn’t last much longer.

His other arm that wasn’t supporting himself grew bold, coming down massage her breast, his thumb flicking over her nipple and she could tell he was trying to push her as close to edge as he could, which meant he wasn’t going to last much longer now either. She could smell the sweat on him and it didn’t surprise her that she found even his scent attractive after what Gin had told her. She pushed the thoughts from her mind now as he groaned into her neck.

‘Fuck, I’m going to come soon,’ he warned her and she simply groaned in return. He went back to his brutal pace and she felt her own climax growing, praying that he held on long enough for her to achieve it. He did, with one particularly deep thrust and pinching her nipple painfully between his thumb and index finger she cried out. Her back attempted to arch off the bed but restricted by her position and her walls clamped around him causing him to moan into her neck, biting down on the flesh where his teeth were and his whole body going ridged. They froze together in their aftershocks for a moment before he pulled out and rolled over, panting heavily.

It only took a moment of them regaining their breath before the room began to feel cold and she shivered. He was at her side in an instant and pulling back the covers for her to get under them the action telling her that he wanted her to spend the night. Rukia did as she was told, slipping inside them and pulling them up to her chest and snuggling down into his covers. He smiled down at her as he stood up, turning his back as he discarded the condom then slipped into the bathroom. She tried her best to keep her eyes from following his ass all the way into the bathroom, but she couldn’t help herself. He had a Jon Snow ass, perfectly toned but she had clocked something small and black on his cheek, it looked like another tattoo but had been too small for her to really see what it was.

While he was in the bathroom she shut her eyes, turning around and snuggling into the pillow, the top of her back on display to the room as she faced away from the bathroom door. She heard him brush his teeth and a stream of water from the sink told her he was taking care of some personal grooming which was long enough for her to pretend to be asleep. By the time he came out, she’d evened out her breaths.

‘Do I get your name now?’ he chuckled and Rukia resisted the urge to shudder at that deep husky Australian accent. Now she was just associating his voice with great sex and that would be a problem, how on earth was she ever meant to watch Master Chef Australia again? He padded over to the bed and stood for a few seconds, Rukia was wondering what he was doing when she felt a soft finger brush a strand of hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ear. He then slipped around to his own side of the bed and slipped under the covers.

‘Asleep already?’ he chuckled but his voice sounded far too tender for her liking, it caused that weird coil feeling inside her stomach again. There was movement behind her and his lamp went off too, he leaned back over and she felt a kiss on her shoulder before he threw an arm over her and settled down into the pillows.

Fuck, why did he have to be so cute?

She waited patiently and thankfully didn’t have to wait very long for the obvious jet lag to catch up to him. He seemed to be out for the count within minutes but just to be sure she lay there for a while longer. When it felt long enough she opened her eyes to the dark and struggled to make out shapes around the hotel room. There was a little light filtering in from the tops of the curtains from the lights of the village below. She could also hear the sounds of people laughing and talking somewhere else in the hotel. The sounds comforted her as she waited for her best chance to slip away. She turned to face him and could only just make out the profile of his face against the light filtering in from under the hotel door.

Why did he have to be so painfully attractive? It was honestly going to be a struggle to leave this bed, because she was warm, with an amazing guy who had just blew her brains out with a penetration only orgasm (mostly). He was kind, seemed to be single, despite the lie she’d made up earlier. Why on earth was she leaving?

Because she didn’t like not being in control, and already she was feeling very uncomfortable. Fuck even his scent, as Gin had once explained in a nervous ramble; people with different immune systems were usually attracted to the sweaty smell of another person, so they could produce the best offspring. If this guy lived on the other side of the world then it’s likely their immune systems were totally different, so he had to smell like fucking roses too didn’t he? He couldn’t just have one bad quality? She resisted the urge to huff out to herself as she continued to study his profile from where he slept.

After a few more moments she gently moved a little. He didn’t stir, not even when she slowly pulled herself out from under his arm, ready at any moment to pretend to be asleep again. He didn’t stir at all and she slipped gently from the bed, padding quietly around the room picking her things up and throwing them on. All except her thin fabric t shirt which she stuffed into her jumper pocket. She tip toed quietly towards the door. Now came the moment of truth, if she granted herself a final look back at him did that mean she maybe liked him more than just a one night stand? She never looked back, ever. It was another one of her many rules.

Rukia took a deep breath and slowly unlocked the door, pulling it open she slipped out and into the hall. Pausing before closing the door she turned back and studied the peaceful look on his face as he slept. The light from the hallway was thrown across his room and across his face and yet he still didn’t stir, completely oblivious to the world as he slept. He even looked good asleep, which at this point shouldn’t surprise her in the slightest. Perhaps with too fond a smile on her face she closed over his door and took a moment standing outside.

‘Not sneaking out are you?’ a high female Australian voice asked and Rukia jumped about a foot in the air, easily. She was a figure skater after all. Turning she spotted Rangiku who was leaning against the wall with a smug smile on her beautiful face. Her team jacket hugging her shoulders suggesting she’d just came from outside and was on her way back towards her room.

‘Yeah actually,’ she admitted, her face flushing, ‘I have my heat today at nine am,’ she groaned at the thought running a hand down her face.

‘Oh,’ Rangiku’s perfect eyebrows shot up into her hair, ‘well fuck, good luck,’ she smiled kindly.

‘Thanks,’ she muttered and seriously wanted to sneak away from this situation, ‘well, um, goodnight,’ she said as she slipped silently away down the hall.

‘Oh and tell your friend Gin thanks,’ Rangiku said and Rukia froze before snapping around quickly to stare at the tall woman again. Rangiku stood like a model with one hand on her hip, her body cocked to the side and a knowing smug smile back on her face, ‘he’s quite the gentleman.’

‘I-’ Rukia couldn’t believe what she was hearing, ‘I will,’ she squeaked back at the woman before quickly turning and making her out the building.

So Gin HAD spoken to her? He’d even managed to remember his name and gave it to her? That was amazing, she couldn’t wait to hear all the details. Rukia bounded from the current hotel to her own, the hostile cold air frigid in her lungs but heating up as she sprinted and she quickly made her way back to her room, only getting lost once as she tried to remember exactly where it was.

Unlocking the door she slipped in to see that Soi Fon was passed out on her bed and that Gin was lying sleeping on hers. She smirked at him and quickly made her way into the bathroom. Rukia turned on the light and gazed at herself in the mirror, her hair was dishevelled and the colour on her cheeks she knew hadn’t come from the cold air outside. Her eye makeup which literally consisted of a bit of eyeliner was a tiny bit smudged at the corners and she mentally kicked herself that Rangiku, of all people, had met her like this doing the walk of shame.

She quickly pulled her toothbrush out her travel bag she’d thrown into her bathroom earlier and began to brush her teeth, pausing to press her fingers into the dark red mark on her neck where he’d bitten her. That was going to leave a lovely dark bruise in the morning. She dreaded to think of the conversation that would raise with her brother if she couldn’t keep it covered. Turning her attention back to brushing her teeth she pulled a brush through her hair and decided to just shower in the morning, a shower at this time of night would only keep her awake for another hour. Softly closing the bathroom door behind her as she left she pulled off her jumper and shoes and slipped into bed beside Gin. Clearly Renji had thrown him out of his room for the night so he and Ichigo could… do things… Gin was clearly passed out though so Rukia resisted the urge to poke him awake and demand he tell her all about Rangiku.

She studied his sleeping face, his peaceful smile telling her everything she needed to know. With a grin on her face she checked her phone, it was passed half one in the morning and she had three missed calls from her brother which she ignored. She’d deal with him tomorrow. She scrolled through her list of Whatsapp messages to see that Gin had been texting her good luck and to remember and be safe, then his texts just stopped and Rukia assumed that’s when his attention had been taken up by other things. She quickly set an alarm for five hours’ time and rolled over to attempt to get some sleep.

\---

 **@IrishLass101  
** _How good did our little Irish lot look? Those costumes just bring out everyone’s complexions beautifully!!!! #GoMyGreenBeans_

**@DiggingForGold  
** _I bet that Ichigo wished he was walking out with his boyfriend!!! Though how happy did Renji look carrying the flag? I think **@RukiKuchi** did the right thing!_

**@Ichibeanx  
** _I’m sure Ichigo will see enough of his boyfriend not to worry! [Image Attached 02334] (smirk)_

**@DiggingForGold  
@Ichibeanx ** _OMFG!!! That reunion though before they walk out (heart eyes) (heart eyes) they’re relationship goals for sure!_

**@Skating4Ever  
** _UM!! DID YOU ALL SEE_ **@TESRALINDO** _‘s POST! [Shared attachment] (red question mark) (exclamation mark)_

**@IrishLass101  
** _OMG!?!?! “Irish girl kissing the fuck out of this other dude” There’s only one Irish girl that could be (wink) (wink( (heart eyes)_ **@Skating4Ever** _thanks for sharing!!! I wonder who Rukia is hooking up with now? (thinking)_

**@KuchikiCanWalkOnMe  
** _Our little slut doesn’t half move fast does she? HAHAHAHA_

**IrishLass101  
@KuchikiCanWalkOnMe ** _get stuffed you 35 year old virgin! (vomit) (vomit)_

**@IrishLass101  
** _I wonder if it will just be the one this time or more? (thinking)_

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_(Art by: Ammsterdamn on Deviantart)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey team, so as you know, Toshiro in this fic is from Oz and the wonderful Geishaaa who is my bub in arms for this project, is also Australian. They’re being hit pretty bad with fires :(  
> Figures currently stand: over 10 million hectares of land gone, an estimated half a billion animals lost, 25 people dead including volunteer firefighters who have left behind young children and almost 2,000 homes destroyed, leaving many families displaced and homeless. 
> 
> Any support you could give would be very appreciated!!! Geshiaaa has given us some links below for you all: 
> 
> RFS: https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade  
> Red Cross: https://fundraise.redcross.org.au/drr  
> Wires: https://www.wires.org.au/donate/emergency-fund
> 
> Please don't forget to leave a comment and a kudos! You don't need an account on this website to do so and it lets us know you're enjoying the story so far!


	3. Never Have I Ever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What on earth did that mean? Rukia spared Toshiro a glance and noticed he’d gone a little pale, still refusing to look at her. If it insinuated what she thought… then maybe another one night stand to get it out of their system was needed. She tried to relax a little at the idea but then-  
> ‘Are you blushing Rukia?’ Renji asked, his voice booming through the surrounding area and causing the entire two teams to turn their attention at first to him and then onto Rukia, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush before.’   
> Rukia hadn’t even realised and raised her hand to gently touch her cheeks, she could indeed feel the heat of her skin burning gently against her slightly colder finger tips. With everyone’s attention now focused on her she could feel the heat spreading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A massive thanks to everyone who has been reading / commenting and kudosing so far!!! It means a lot to us :D 
> 
> Please note that in the Olympics, figure skating doesn't have a 'heat' round but for the purpose of balance to the fan fiction we decided to do it in this story. Can't have all the snowboarders having the fun can we? ;)

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_(Art by: Ammsterdamn on Deviantart)_

Rukia was gently shaken awake and when her eyes opened she was greeted with the grinning face of Gin staring happily down at her. The morning light was filtering through the crookedly shut curtains and dancing across the room, stretching out towards the bed opposite where Soi Fon was clearly still sound asleep.

‘Good morning,’ Gin said cheerfully working to keep his voice quiet, ‘your alarm went aff, ah just wanted tae make sure you’d hear it.’ He was still smiling down at her and she groaned before turning away from his cheerful face. She smushed her cheek down into the hotel pillow, too tired to deal with the world right now. Her body was stiff, she felt it as she moved especially the slight bit of pain down around her hips. Rukia smirked into the pillow, very vivid images of last night coming flooding back.

‘Oh dear god,’ Gin chuckled beside her, ‘wha’s tha’ on yer neck?’ he asked and she pulled herself free from the pillow to smirk at him. ‘Did you have fun?’

‘Yes, lots, but I’m not giving any of it away,’ Rukia lifted her chin and raised her eyebrows. ‘I heard you spoke to Rangiku last night.’ She deflected the conversation away from the very obvious bruise on her neck. Rukia wouldn’t be surprised if she was bruised anywhere else. She could feel pain between her legs with her slight shifts and knew she’d have to stretch quite the bit prior to her short programme skate.

‘Who told you tha’?’ he asked, the deflection working as his eyes widened slightly at her comment.

‘I ran into Rangiku last night,’ she smirked and watched his eyes grow even wider.

‘Ohmygodwha’didshesay?’ Gin asked in a rush and Rukia laughed. Soi Fon stirred in the bed across the room and Rukia lowered her voice.

‘Said to tell you thanks and that you’re quite the gentleman, or something,’ Rukia smiled as Gin’s whole face lit up. ‘So tell me what happened?’

‘Oh my god,’ he breathed flopping back in bed and Rukia raised herself up onto her arms so she could see his face. ‘We spoke about you two running aff taegether. Ah found out that she’s many generations Australian but there’s Irish and Scottish blood in there somewhere,’ he sighed and listed off a few other Rangiku facts that he likely already knew prior to the meeting given that he’d watched every single one of her interviews.

‘Did yeh ken tha’ Toshiro’s sister is ah fan?’ Gin said finally and Rukia stirred, realising that she’d zoned out for a moment as she adjusted her position in bed to be more comfortable.

‘Who?’ she asked with a frown.

‘Oh my god,’ Gin looked at her with his mouth open in shock. ‘Are yeh serious?’

‘What?’ she was trying to cast her mind back thinking about the name. She’d definitely heard it before.

‘Yeh slept with the guy and you didnae ken his name? Ichigo told us it yesterday. Were you no listening? He’s Ichigo’s brother, Jesus Rukia.’ Gin covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud, ‘please dinnae tell me you called him the wrong thing in bed, that’d have been awkward as fuck.’

‘No,’ she scowled at him, ‘I didn’t call him the wrong thing, we just didn’t do a great deal of talking alright…’ she shrugged but her mind rewound back on the information he’d given her. His name was Toshiro and he was related to both Ichigo and a girl who was a fan of hers? How interesting.

‘Did you not stalk him at all?’ Gin rolled over and grabbed his phone off the side table before bringing up an article that he thrust under her nose. Rukia quickly scanned it, her mouth open as she did so. Toshiro was part of a large family, his father was his coach and he and his brother Ichigo were both adopted, he had two sisters who were twins, one of which was a pair skater.

‘That’s Yuzu,’ Gin said pointing her out, ‘she’s the massive fan of yours.’ There were attached pictures of the whole Australian team and her eyes clocked Toshiro’s face right away. Hair blinding white in stark contrast to the dark grey background they were photographed against, he had that same slightly playful smile on his face and Rukia felt her stomach flip as she studied his perfect features. They may have been photoshopped but she was sure they weren’t. His eyebrows had that perfect arch, not a hair out of place, not a spot or freckle on his skin, he was flawless. Her eyes slid from him to his sister who wasn’t that much shorter than him, she had blond hair and a cute innocent little face. Now that Rukia thought about it, she’d definitely seen her at competitions before with her partner/boyfriend.

‘Was she at the bar last night?’ Rukia asked, dreading the answer.

‘Yup,’ he chuckled and she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Well how horrible must that have been to bear witness to your sporting hero kissing the daylight out of your brother before promptly heading off with him. ‘According tae Rangiku she looked traumatised.’

Rukia threw a hand over her face and resisted the urge to laugh into it.

‘He’s going tae have some explaining tae dae this morning,’ Gin laughed and she shook her head.

‘He has no idea it was me,’ she giggled.

‘Wha’ dae you mean?’ he asked turning in the bed and propping his head on his hand. She gazed at him from under her arm.

‘He asked for my name but never got it,’ she couldn’t stop the smile appearing on her face at the thought of how his morning was going to go. He’d find out who she was one way or another and the thought of the conversation between him and his sister made her laugh.

‘Rukia,’ Gin laughed, ‘he’s gonnae freak oot.’

‘He’ll be fine,’ she huffed, ‘it’s not like I’m going to see him again,’ she locked Gin’s phone and handed it back to him before stretching to assess the damage in her limbs.

‘Why not?’ he asked cutting across her and she ignored him in favour of zoning into the stiffness around her hips and the thrumming pain between her legs. She’d definitely be feeling that when it came time for her performance but given the nature of her routine it would likely help inspire her. Rukia tried to keep the smile from her face as she thought about it, the pain was like a hidden reminder, a dirty little secret that only she knew and could feel.

‘Rukia?’ Gin asked again and she sighed.

‘It was a one night stand Gin you know that,’ she rolled her eyes and sat up, motivation flowing through her to get up and make a start to her day. She’d have to be at the rink sometime in the next hour and she wanted a shower before she performed.

‘Yeh said yeh’d never sleep with guys yeh find attractive,’ he reminded her, ‘so was he different?’

‘It was a one night stand,’ Rukia repeated as she pulled back the covers and slipped out of the bed.

‘But yeh liked him,’ Gin called after her as she went to her bags and rummaged for her workout clothes.

‘Shut up,’ Soi Fon mumbled from the other side of the room. Gin quickly scampered over to the edge of the bed so he could still keep Rukia in his sights.

‘Why did yeh break yer rules?’ he asked and Rukia sighed. She couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t let this go. She’d slept with loads of people before and he’d never really cared, unless… she narrowed her eyes up at him and he blinked innocently down at her.

‘Are you worried because of Rangiku? Because she’s friends with him?’ Rukia asked.

‘No,’ he muttered and sat down on the edge, throwing his legs over the side, ‘Ah was just curious as tae why yeh broke your rules now?’

‘He was ridiculously attractive,’ she finally answered, clearing her throat and feeling her face heat up, ‘I figured I could permit myself this one time. It is the Olympics after all.’

‘Wait,’ he said leaning down and peering at her, a smile slowly appearing on his face.

‘What?’ Rukia asked sending small daggers his way because she didn’t like that cheeky look on his face.

‘You’re blushing,’ he laughed noisily, instantly causing Soi Fon to toss something across the room at him. In all the chaos Rukia quickly slipped into the bathroom, the sound of her friends’ bickering muffled only slightly by the bathroom door closing. She put her things down on the closed toilet lid and glanced into the mirror.

There was a small glow high in her pale cheekbones and she gently touched her cool fingers to it, feeling the heat radiating off her skin. It was ridiculous. It was a completely involuntary reaction. She scowled at herself before her eyes slid to the bruise on her neck. It would be difficult to hide, the unsightly dark colouring in her skin was in a sensitive oval shape and currently was about the size of her thumb, meaning that over the next 24 hours it was going to potentially double in size. She bit her bottom lip as she pressed a finger into the bruise feeling the deep burning pain flare momentarily and remembering exactly when he’d bit down on her neck at the peak of his own orgasm. Rukia removed her finger and turned to the rest of the bathroom, deciding it would be easier to shower here before heading to the rink.

The last thing she needed was her brother to smell anything from her, be it the alcohol she’d been drinking, the sex she’d had or any faint whiff of a men’s perfume. Rukia scrubbed, aware of her time restraints and quickly tied her hair up, vowing to deal with it when she got to the arena.

She left the bathroom and stuffed her things into her bag, dressed in her Irish leggings and a fresh jumper. Rukia carefully packed her short programme costume and gathered up the things she’d need to do her hair and makeup. Gin and Soi Fon were still bickering as she got ready to leave, just hearing Gin quickly chirp a, ‘Ah’ll see you at the rink!’ as she left.

Rukia didn’t call her brother but instead sent him a very blunt text stating she was making her way towards the arena now. When she stepped outside she was hit with the chill and took to jogging gently through the snow in the direction of the rink. As soon as she arrived, the paparazzi were all over her. This was when it was helpful to travel with a coach who could man handle them out of your way, but she simply lowered her head and tried to make her way through, pulling her scarf tighter around her neck so they didn’t see anything.

‘Rukia is it true that you kissed someone in the bar last night?’

‘Rukia can you tell us what you meant when you said your theme was “unconventional”?’

‘Rukia can you wink at the camera?’

‘Are you worried that Russia will take gold at these games?’

She ignored them all and badgered on through the crowed and into the safety of the arena.

‘Rukia,’ the cold crisp sound of her brothers’ voice reached her. He hadn’t called out, she could just pick his desolate octaves above everyone else’s chatter with practiced ease. Rukia walked towards him and Byakuya reached up, taking her stretching mat from her bag where it was sticking out and carrying it under his arm with her tissue holder. He nodded down the corridor and they flashed their passes to the security before walking towards the woman’s changing rooms.

‘Whatever happened last night,’ Byakuya started his voice holding that wave of danger that she’d always associated with punishment. He had always been the firm handed one when she did something bad as a child. ‘I don’t care, just as long as it doesn’t impede your performance.’

That sounded about right, it was his way of saying that hey, he didn’t really care about her at all, he just wanted her to bring back a meal for Ireland.

‘Don’t worry,’ Rukia mumbled under her breath as she passed him and into the women’s changing area, ‘what happened last night will help my performance.’

Rukia didn’t explain it, just enjoyed the scowl it created on his face before the door was closing behind her and she was assaulted from all sides by half clad women freaking out. Most of the skaters who were running around getting changed didn’t even glance her way. A few were helping each other get ready. She walked over to an empty bit of bench space and gently put her bag down before finding an unused locker.

‘Rukia!’ a familiar voice called out, the accent thick and she turned to beam at the younger skater approaching her.

‘Hello Kiy,’ she grinned at the Japanese girl. They were roughly the same in height which was why it was a surprise when her sister walked over because she was almost a foot taller than the two of them. The two Kotetsu sisters were competing for Japan and as Rukia had learned Japanese, they became fast friends. When Rukia had been in Japan they’d even met up, the two sisters showing off their stunning country in a way Rukia wouldn’t have seen otherwise. 

‘Rukia,’ Kiy grinned at her, ‘it’s good to see you,’ the younger of the two sisters was only seventeen and looked up to Rukia. Her older sister wasn’t nearly as good at English but found Rukia’s accented Japanese rather amusing as she swapped into the sisters’ common tongue.

‘It is very good to see you both again, are you excited?’ she asked, Kiy would be one of the first out on the ice to perform. The younger girl already had her costume on under her Japanese Olympic jacket and was beaming up at her.

‘Yes,’ she replied in Japanese, ‘my sister is going to be in the group just before you Rukia isn’t that great?’

The sister in question just chuckled and placed a hand on her tiny sister’s head. Isane was 24 years old, very close to Rukia’s age and had won many national competitions and even placed bronze at the last Grand Prix Final.

‘Yes that’s amazing,’ Rukia caught Isane’s eye and grinned, ‘and congratulations on your bronze medal, I wish I’d been there to see it myself.’

‘Rukia if you’d been there,’ she folded her arms patiently with a smile on her face, ‘I wouldn’t have medalled at all. Though I must say it was a nice surprise to come back home and see you.’

The three of them chatted amicably about Japan as Rukia dried her hair properly and straightened it. She’d never had many female friends growing up, except her own sister. She’d always found men a lot easier to get along with but the sisters were just so polite and they’d been so nice to Rukia when they’d first approached her. It had been Isane who had approached her first, on behalf of her sister who was desperate to meet the Olympic gold medallist.

The two other women were polite enough not to comment on the bruise on Rukia’s neck as she pulled the light scarf off, trying her best to reach the small wispy parts of her hair at the back. She wrapped her hair up in a ponytail, taking her straighteners to curl a few strands she’d strategically pulled from the hair tie.

‘Oh!’ Kiy stated sharply as her group was called. Rukia gave the girl a quick hug good luck and wrapped her scarf back around her neck. They watched Kiy run off toward the ice and Rukia and Isane headed to the TV’s to watch the performances. Rukia could feel the other woman’s apprehension as her young sister took to the ice to represent Japan. Kiyone’s performance was smooth, polished, she threw in the two triples she could land properly and overall did Japan very proud. Rukia congratulated her when she finished and together they went back to the changing rooms.

Rukia pulled her costume off her hanger and slipped into it, making sure the neck covered her bruise completely before stepping out of the stall. Isane and Kiy let out a collective gasp of approval.

‘Oh Rukia, that’s got to be my favourite outfit of yours so far,’ Isane complimented and Rukia smiled brightly at her.

‘Thank you, it’s one of mine as well.’ Rukia took a deep breath, now that she was in the outfit, the usual excitement of competition began to nestle in her stomach. She allowed the feeling to radiate through her though and took to comforting Isane who’d always had an issue dealing with nerves. 

Very soon the voice of Hiyori reached her ears and Rukia turned to study the blond. She wasn’t that much taller than Rukia, perhaps only two inches at the most, but the way she held herself, she could have been a seven foot burly man. Rukia turned to address her, not at all intimidated by the Russian who had broken her short programme record.

‘Good to see you back,’ Hiyori drawled, her Russian accent penetrating the English words harshly, ‘I was worried I’d scared you off.’ She smirked and Rukia smirked back, it was all mostly for show. Truth was most figure skaters got on very well despite the fact that they were in competition with each other. They could all still feel it when a skater fell or stumbled out on the ice. The empathy was real.

‘You didn’t,’ Rukia chuckled, ‘I just decided I needed to mix things up for the Olympics,’ she didn’t say any more than that and a flash of curiosity flickered across Hiyori’s face for a moment before she nodded toward the two sisters and walked away.

As the returning Olympic champion, Rukia was to be the final performer out on the ice but the group of six would be allowed their warm up time on the ice together. She pulled her skates out of her locker and threw on her team Ireland jacket. It was the same navy blue as their jumpers with the green shamrock on it and Ireland imprinted in dark green on the back. It was modest next to the Russians white and red Olympic jackets but covered her outfit well until she was ready to reveal what was under it.

She walked out to meet her brother in the hallway, there he had her mat in his arms and the two went to find somewhere private and secluded for her to stretch. The press thankfully weren’t allowed through the back at the Olympics, and most were out covering the events of the girls who went before her.

Byakuya stood and kept watch while Rukia had her headphones in, stopping others from approaching her and listening out for when her warm up time was. That allowed her to enter into her own world, listening to the Greatest Showman Soundtrack on repeat while she stretched and kept her muscles moving. Every now and again she’d get a twinge when she stretched in a specific way, a reminder of the evening she’d had before.

A playful smirk flashed across her face as Rukia brought her leg up to the side of her head, her eyes gently studying the figures passing by. She couldn’t hear what anyone was saying over the sound of her music and finally caught her brothers disapproving glances. She dropped her leg and took an ear plug out of her ear.

‘Form not good?’ she asked him with a raised brow.

‘Your form is fine. I’m just concerned about the thought that’s behind your smile.’ Byakuya narrowed his eyes and she smirked wider.

‘Would you like to know?’

‘No,’ he turned away from her keeping watch on the officials who darted backwards and forwards chattering in rapid fire French and swapping to English for the benefit of most of the athletes. When Rukia had conversations with her brother in environments like this they often just used Irish Gaelic. It stopped potential press and inconspicuous members of the public from catching too much of their conversations.

Feeling a little better about her flexibility and the fact that her raunchy evening activities wouldn’t hinder her performance, she pulled her phone out. Rukia wasn’t sure where the curiosity had come from but she flicked onto Instagram to see what was happening. According to her clock she had plenty of time to kill and she could choose to watch some of the girls in the group before her if she wanted. Byakuya handed her water bottle over and Rukia took a drink as she navigated to Instagram on her phone. Gin had posted a picture of himself sitting in his seat somewhere out in the arena with an Irish flag tagging her and stating how everyone was going to be blown away by her performance. She rolled her eyes but smiled, sometimes she wondered what good she’d done in the world to deserve him. Gin was like a puppy, just too pure and amicable for the world. Rukia made a mental note to try and find him when she went out skating during the warm up, it was always nice when he was in the crowd. Something about a familiar face just seemed to help her performances.

Rukia easily found Rangiku’s profile, pulling it up and laughing partly in amusement at how many of the pictures on her Instagram featured Toshiro. Looking at his face caused her stomach to squirm in a way that she normally associated with nerves. There was a selfie of them with the Olympic rings in the background and as Rukia scrolled down she saw that most of the stunning blondes feed was taken up with picture after picture of her on the beach in barely any clothes. Holding back a snort, she also noted how Gin had ‘liked’ almost every single one of her pictures.

Rukia continued to scroll and after a few snowboarding brand shots with her sponsors; Roxy she spotted a happy birthday shot of Toshiro looking ridiculously handsome. Rukia paused on the picture for a while longer than she should have, noting that his eyes looked a lot lighter in that picture than they had the evening before. Then she remembered why and bit her lower lip, trying to push the burning desire to the back of her mind for later. It would provide the inspiration she needed for her burlesque performance but now wasn’t the time. She scanned the tagline and couldn’t help but laugh.

_“Happy birthday @toshhiba you little hottie. PS: ladies, he’s single (wink)”_

Rangiku seemed to be trying to pimp him out, not that Rukia could blame her. He was quite a catch and the figure skater had to wonder why he was even single to begin with?

She double tapped the image to like it and clicked back out onto Rangiku’s feed.

She continued scrolling and then stopped, her mouth literally falling open and she’d never clicked into a picture so fast in her life.

_Fuck!!!_

Her eyes scanned the caption for a split second before returning back to the image.

_“Remember when you did this @Toshhiba ?? (fire) (fire) (wink) (eggplant)”_

Eggplant emoji indeed, Rukia’s eyes greedily took in the picture. It sparked a similar image in her mind from the evening before when Toshiro had laid back on the bed, tilting his neck and tensing his muscles for her. It was almost the exact same image but instead of being in a pair of jeans he had nothing but a pair of white boxers on that left virtually nothing to the imagination at all. In fact the entire image seemed to focus around the very prominent bulge in the boxers that Rukia spent far too much time staring at.

It took her at least four minutes to even recognise that the brand of underwear was Calvin Klein. How they expected anyone to even be paying attention to the written words on the waistband was beyond her, no gay male or straight woman would have noticed that first surely? Rukia quickly scanned the comments and noted that everyone was saying the same as her thoughts. Most of the commenters being rather bold about what they’d do with him and how they’d treat him and she was sure she should have felt affronted on his behalf but she didn’t.

She just felt exceptionally turned on.

The weirdly coincidental text that followed on her phone featured the exact same image encompassed in a screenshot sent via Gin.

_Big G 09:42am  
Please tell me this is photoshopped?_

_Rukia 09:43am  
It’s not :P _

Perhaps she shouldn’t have but Rukia saved the image into her phone for later, returning back to Instagram and double tapping the image to like it before moving into Toshiro Shiba’s profile. His own feed was a lot more conservative than Rangiku’s had been and that didn’t surprise Rukia at all from what she’d learned about the two snowboarders. Toshiro had a healthy number of followers considering he hadn’t taken part in an Olympics before. She’d always found during the Olympics was when she got more followers on her Instagram than during any other competition.

One of the first images was of Rangiku and him on the Olympic rings and brought a grin to her face. Rangiku looked so elegant while he was swinging off one of the rings, it simply looked to her like he was just far too short to climb them properly. Not that she had a right to judge anyone for size, coming in at just over five foot (but not enough to legitimately label herself as five foot one) she was one of the smallest women at the Olympics.

Not that Rukia minded of course, she’d always felt that men tended to worry about their heights far more than women and it had never bothered her in a partner because she’d never come across the issue of a man being smaller. Rukia double tapped that image too, causing the little heart icon to light up red. She smiled at the soft look Rangiku held while watching Toshiro in the image and swiped back through his profile, pausing to hit the blue “follow” button at the top of the page.

There were several images of him looking far too adorable in a beanie, plenty of very impressive snowboarding shots, including a few aerial shots and a couple of topless shots. Rukia’s eyes greedily took in his form, wincing at one picture where he had his top off but his side was covered in a few painful looking bruises and burns. She’d seen them on Gin before and of course the ice could give some nasty burns too but nothing quite to the extent as these. Mostly she suffered bruises. There was one time when her sister had first being diagnosed with cancer, Rukia had a head on collision with another ice skater during warm up. She’d been led off the ice bleeding from the head, but that was the extent of it. On Toshiro’s profile there was a picture of an attractive blond haired male with a caption congratulating him on winning a surfing competition.

Then it was onto a couple of beach shots, Rukia was sure that Rangiku had taken the images. One picture featured him walking out of the water, his ridiculous V muscle on show as well as the other tattoo on his arm. It was an environmental one and seemed to fit when she spotted a small video of him cleaning away trash at a skate park. His Australian accent playing through her headphones and causing an involuntary shiver, despite the fact he was clearly scolding people about dropping litter and how bad it was for the wildlife.

_He could scold her like that any day._

What was she even thinking? Rukia bit her lip to stop herself laughing out before continuing through his feed, the distraction proving incredibly useful right now. There was so much amazing content to stalk on his feed, he had a dog called Daisy, she looked like a cross or a breed of dog Rukia had never seen before. There were several images of Toshiro and Daisy together. One in particular where he was wearing a denim jacket and has his arms wrapped around her as she gazed at something off screen. Rukia’s eyes travelled down his arms and spotted quite a few rings on his fingers… where had they been last night? She cast her mind back and vaguely remembered him removing something from his hands… he’d obviously done it so he could finger her open. Rukia took a deep breath, these thoughts were not going to help during the warm up. She could focus on them when it came to her actual skate because that’s when she’d have to let her sexuality out onto the ice. Rukia double tapped that image to like it as well as a few of Toshiro and his father. She browsed a few more of his photos including some impressive snowboarding shots and a few from the other sports he did; surfing and skateboarding.

One of her favourite shots by far was him surfing a massive wave, it looked ten times more terrifying than the thought of being in the snow or on the ice. That picture she actually left a comment on too, but didn’t expect a reply.

**_@RukiKuchi_ **

**_I’d be scared of possible sharks! Or do all Aussies get taught how to fight them off in School? :P_ **

Rukia paused at regular points to double tap a couple of images including one of him sleeping in an airport, taking up the entire bench, his face pressed down into the hard plastic seat and his arms splayed on either side.

Then she found another video and quickly hit play. It had a very vine like feel and was about him smuggling his sister to one of his competitions. He zipped her up in a bag, put it through baggage claim, opened it to tell the dark haired twin they were nearly there, then the journey continued.

It was hilariously done and Rukia quickly sent the link in a private message to Gin, knowing he’d appreciate the amount of work that had clearly gone into something like that. It was by far one of the most liked videos on his feed as far as she could tell and she watched it three or four times, every single time it didn’t fail to make her smile.

**Big G, 09:59am:** _Are you Insta-stalking? :P_

**Rukia, 10:00am:** _You taught me well. I was curious._

**Big G, 10:01am:** _Are you curious enough to see him again? ;)_

Rukia rolled her eyes at his comment and pocketed her phone just in time as her brother wandered over.

‘It’s time,’ Byakuya nodded and she straightened up. Rukia would return to her mat after the warm up, so left her things where they were. She slipped her skates on and laced them before following her brother in the direction of the ice.

A group of six skaters would be allowed five minutes warm up time, at the end of which the first skater of the six (usually the one with the least amount of achievements) would stay behind to be the first to perform. This was commonly how it went, while the skaters would be out warming up on the ice the commentator would go over every skater individually talking about the position they would be performing in and also their previous achievements. As she followed behind her brother - walking better in skates than she did in heels - she saw Isane and Hiyori up ahead of her.

The coaches paused as they walked into the arena and took their skaters’ skate guards as they made their way out onto the ice. Some skaters had their costumes on full show already but Rukia and Isane both kept theirs covered, choosing to reveal their outfits at the last possible minute.

The warm up was as much about mental psych out as it was about actually warming up. The six skaters skated into a line on the centre of the ice, Rukia at the end of the row with Hiyori. The warm up was announced and they were introduced one skater at a time, starting with Isane and finally ending with Rukia. The tiny Irish skater smirked and waved at the audience, spotting a large number of Irish flags being raised around the room, but still the Russian flags dominated the arena. It didn’t surprise her though, there were three Russian figure skaters in this last group of six; Hiyori who was her biggest competition for Gold this year, Riruka who had taken silver in the last GPF and Nozomi who had taken silver at worlds and came in fourth in the last GPF.

The announcer finally gave them the green light to start the warm up and the line of girls broke away from each other. Rukia had made her mind up that she wouldn’t be practicing any of her major jumps. She swung her arms about, getting a feel for the outfit properly underneath. Rolling her shoulders her eyes trained in on the blonde haired Russian. Hiyori was doing jump after jump after jump, much to the audiences’ glee. They were clapping and cheering with every single one she landed. As the Irish skater passed Isane though she could see the nerves forming on the Japanese woman’s face, she kept glancing back at Hiyori the obvious psych out working.

Rukia resisted the urge to go and give the girl a pep talk, it really wasn’t her place. Isane turned and kicked off into a jump, getting the three sets of rotations in but going down on the landing and Rukia could actually pin point the exact moment the skates’ confidence was shattered out on the ice in front of the audience. Changing direction, Rukia quickly caught up to her.

‘Don’t let her psych you out,’ she said, pointing to her own temples and nodding at Isane, ‘your coach wants you.’ She could see the Japanese coach waving enthusiastically in the distance and the shaken Japanese skater made her way over. Rukia could feel her nerves flutter for her friend but pushed it down.

Hiyori wanted to psych out? Then fine, she turned and glared at the back of the blonde Russians head and waited until she was turned around before launching into her own jumps. Triple axel, double loop, triple toe with hands raised above her head, the audience whooped, cheering at her and that’s when Rukia spotted Gin in the audience, standing up and waving the Irish flag shouting loudly. She skated passed a panic stricken Hiyori and towards Byakuya where the Irish coach was waving her in.

‘I thought you weren’t going to psych out?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.

‘Well, I think justice is best served in a set of triples,’ she smiled and for a second the grumpy exterior broke and he smirked back at her. This was Rukia’s favourite moment, when her brother would enter complete coach mode, not grumpy or criticising coach or brother mode but literally just existing with her at the side of the rink with a smile that told her he was proud of her. The moments were often short lived though and he nodded her back out onto the ice. They only had about thirty seconds left of their warm up and Rukia decided to test out one of her spins, pulling her leg up above her head and feeling the burn deep in her lower abdomen. She’d feel it during her performance but it wouldn’t be a hindrance.

It was almost immediately after that they were called off the ice, all except Isane who was the first in the category to skate. Rukia managed to hang back by taking her time exiting so she could catch the Japanese skater.

‘Good luck,’ she smiled brilliantly her way and Isane smiled sheepishly at her. Obviously still a little nervous but feeling better after the brief chat with her coach. Rukia exited the ice and Byakuya handed her skate guards, she clipped them into place over her golden blades and walked through the back where she could watch Isane’s performance on one of the screens.

‘Oh my gosh,’ Kiy said as Rukia met the younger sister, ‘I am so nervous.’

‘She’ll be fine, if she can shake off that fall,’ Rukia frowned at the screen and they watched as Isane took her place to start in the centre of the ice.

Her first mistake was missing the start of her music and Rukia and Kiy instantly deflated. It was very hard to climb back from a point where you were very out of sync with your own music. Meanwhile you knew it was losing you serious artistry points.

Her first jump which was meant to be a triple was only a double and she stepped out of her second jump. Kiy actually started crying at that point, not because her sister had let her down but because she could actually feel the emotions her sister was experiencing. As a veteran skater, Rukia knew the feeling, she could see the emotions on Isane’s face as the camera caught the close up, but Rukia was much better at pushing her emotions down.

She’d been supressing emotions for years now and she couldn’t let anything affect her own skate, despite how completely gutted she was for her friend.

Isane managed to do a perfect combination spin and in the second half of her programme managed to make some of her points back. Her performance became cleaner as she gained a little bit more of her confidence back. When she struck her finishing pose in the centre of the ice the Japanese flags were waving and Rukia caught sight of Gin standing and clapping with several others in the background audience.

Isane’s score wasn’t her best, but Rukia was sure if the girl could hold it together in the free skate then she’d be able to qualify for a shot at an Olympic medal at least.

When the first of the Russian skaters were announced, Rukia decided to turn her focus away from the television. She likely wouldn’t see Isane until after her own skate, considering she had to go back to stretching and the Japanese girl would be caught up in interviews.

‘Don’t focus on what happened to your friend,’ Byakuya told her, his tone not unkind but a little authoritative, ‘she will make it up in the free.’

‘Yeah she will,’ Rukia agreed as they made their way back to the mat. She instantly plugged her headphones back in and started to play “This is Me” while mouthing along to the words. Musical scores calmed her in a way no other kind of music could.

She continued her light stretches, the songs pumping through her body until Byakuya laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. Rukia glanced up into his warm grey eyes and he nodded at her.

This was it.

Rukia stood slowly, rolling her shoulders and her neck. The two staff members that had come to find her walked ahead of them, one of them talking into a small radio. Rukia walked just a little behind her brother who carried her water bottle and tissues. When they walked out towards the ice, Hiyori was just finishing her routine up. The applause from the Russian audience and her figure skating fans was enough to cut through Rukia’s music and the Russian looked incredibly pleased with her performance as she bowed to the audience.

‘Don’t let her appearance fool you,’ Byakuya said as Rukia took one head phone out of her ear and let fall, being caught and held in place by the collar of her Irish jacket. ‘She stepped out of two jumps and missed some points on her spins.’

Rukia let a small smile grace her face at the news. She could feel phones being pointed at her from the audience above as the young skaters cleared the ice of all the gifts raining down on the blonde Russian.

Rukia went into auto pilot, the trick was to not leave the mind wandering too long and she had a routine that she always did before skating. She stretched down and grabbed the back of her ankles, for a few seconds then rose up and stretched above her head. She plucked her other headphone out and pulled them down through her jacket, handing them along with her phone off to her brother to pocket.

Then she was making her way over to the entrance to the ice, she bent and brushed her fingertips gently against the cool icy surface. The startling cold in the tips of her fingers grounded her and she took a deep breath of the rink air. The ice of the skating arena always had a particular scent to it and the scent was oddly comforting. Rukia stood up straight and then reached down to gracefully pluck her skate guards from her blades and stepping on the ice before handing them off to her brother.

She wasn’t on the TV screens yet and had a few moments before the cameras would swap focus. The attention to those viewing at home was still being diverted to Hiyori as she received her scores, which Rukia ignored in favour of her own sanity.

‘Alright,’ Byakuya said and Rukia felt her heart leap in her chest. This was one of her favourite parts of skating, when her callous brother dropped all facades and spoke to her as if everything they’d been through in the last 5 years had been nothing more than a bad dream. ‘You’ve got this,’ he smirked confidently and she mirrored the look on his face, feeling his words sink in. ‘You’re the world champion, the Olympic champion and soon to be the only woman who can land the quad lutz,’ his eyes sparkled proudly and Rukia breathed a massive breath of tension from her shoulders. ‘Go and show them why you can’t be defeated.’

At his words she removed her Irish jacket and placed it over the edge of the rink, then she was gone in the blink of an eye, the focus of the TV’s swapping and her name being called to those in the stadium.

Rukia skated a slow, lazy track to the centre of the ice. Her theme was announced as well as a couple of her previous achievements including being branded the returning Olympic Champion. She was soon situated in the centre of the rink and took a deep breath in and out before moving into her starting position. One foots toe pick dug into the ice, hips cocked to the side, head down and eyes closed. She waited for the music to start.

The bouncing beats of “Welcome to Burlesque” sounded around the arena and Rukia kicked off, starting with a backwards skate. She put her arms out and ground to halt in time with the sharp strike of music, her head rising up and then started to dance again.

The object of this skate was to play on the reputation she’d created for herself. The start of her routine was a subtle representation of female sexuality which was rarely expressed and often rejected by society and its norms. Women who wished to express that side of themselves were often degraded and often victim-shamed, but Rukia was out to prove that just because someone chose to dance a particular way or wear something, didn’t mean she should be devalued as a human being. 

Control, that’s what she wanted.

Over the whole audience, and in her performance it was exactly what she was dancing for. After the minute mark, Rukia began to ready her first jump. From a spread eagle into a triple axel, followed immediately with a double loop she landed each perfectly, hearing the audience cheer. As the lyrics of the song continued through the various women’s names, Rukia readied another jump. She turned her back to the judges, the movement in her legs so easy it was like breathing and took off in a perfect triple lutz, hands raised above her head for extra points.

There was just enough height in that jump to have skating fanatics speculating if she was indeed working on a quad. The sultry tones of the songs middle eighth struck, Rukia entered into her first spin, a flying sit spin combination. She was now in the second half of her programme and her elements would be worth more points here, but there was a final step sequence that she was gearing up to.

Coming out of her spin combination, she got ready for her favourite part of the song and her final step sequence. Anticipating the words, a smirk formed on her face.

_If you want a little extra, well, you know where I am._

Rukia reached out to the audience as if inviting them, then for the next few parts of her routine one of her hands did not leave her body.

_Something very dark, is playing with your mind…_

She could feel his hands on her, like they had been last night, unable to leave her body, digging into her skin as they moved together. She could still feel him between her legs, see his eyes darkened with desire every time she shut hers. Her own hand travelling down her body, head thrown back in a perfect mimic of exactly what was happening last night, but happening so fast that the audience would be left wondering if it had indeed been what she’d intended or if they were just being misled.

_It's not the end of days, it’s just the bump and grind…_

At that point, Rukia cocked her hips, as if signifying grinding down against someone before she launched into her final jump. Inside edge, toe pick thrust down into the ice, three rotations with arms raised, landing on opposite foot, the triple flip. She then followed this with a final combination spin as the music climbed towards its apex and she pulled her leg up against her head.

Rukia stepped out into her finishing pose, one arm raised partly above her head, the other on her hips which were titled to the side and cheeky grin in place on her face. There was a beat and then the audience were cheering. She broke her pose to breathe in mouthfuls of the cool rink air. It was always more exhausting performing in a competition than it ever was performing solo in practice. Something about holding an entire stadiums attention made the performance incredibly difficult. Rukia watched as flowers and stuffed toys were tossed down onto the ice and stopped panting long enough to turn and face the audience and bow. She bowed to Gin’s side of the arena first, before turning around and bowing to the other side followed by the final two as was customary in figure skating.

Rukia took another few seconds to regain her breath, skating a slow lazy line towards the exit. She only paused for a second to sweep a giant stuffed Good Luck Care Bear up off the ice and into her arms. She grinned and waved up at the side of the audience that the gift had come from. When she reached the exit Byakuya was waiting for her. He gave her a small nod before handing over her skate guards which she clipped back on over her blades.

‘That was good,’ he said and Rukia tried not to roll her eyes at his words. It had been better than the other performances of the day surely? The TVs overhead replayed her jumps in slow motion meaning that Rukia got a few seconds of privacy as she made her way towards the kiss and cry where the scoring was received.

She sucked greedily on her water and listened to her brother prattle on about her entry into her triple axel and the wide circles at the beginning of her second spin combination, for the most part though she choose to ignore him. Rukia plucked one of the tissues from the tissue holder and used it to wipe the worst of the sweat off her face. She wasn’t one of these girls who piled a lot of makeup on during her performances, she always thought girls with too much makeup just looked ugly when they sweated. Rukia mostly stuck to just eye makeup, but of course it did mean that her face flushed horribly with her physical exertion and then there was the red nose. They sat down at the kiss and cry, the TV screens in front of them showing a live reaction of their own faces as they waited for the scores. She frowned at the image of herself, her cheeks flushed and her nose bright red and snuggled into the green bear with the clover on its stomach to try and hide the worst of it from view. She could hear the blood rushing past her ears, these seconds before the scores revealed making her ridiculously nervous.

_78.25_

Rukia had been two points away from gaining back her title as short programme world record holder. She sighed but accepted that she was currently in first place for the heats. Riruka from Russia was in second with a score of 75.43.

It was going to be an interesting Olympics, Rukia thought as her and her brother stood up to make their way back through to the changing rooms. The Russians wouldn’t let this go without a fight meaning that she’d likely just made things ten times more difficult for herself in the actual skate for the medals the following week.

Choosing not to think about it for the time being, she instead planned on getting a quick shower just to freshen up. Rukia would take care of her hair when she got back to the hotel room, no doubt Gin would be dragging her out later to celebrate.

Rukia rolled her eyes with a fond smile, teeth clamped around her water bottle when she was assaulted by the first interviewer.

Just because she thought it was appropriate she decided not to remove the water bottle from her mouth until she was completely ready to reply. Innocently hinting at something else, as the interviewers eyes blinked owlishly at her while asking a question.

‘Were you upset to not have broken the short programme record?’

Rukia spent far too much time slowly removing the water bottle, her tongue having lavished around the tip of it for a second as she contemplated the question, feeling her brothers disapproving gaze and hearing Gin’s booming laughter in her head.

‘I’m not worried,’ Rukia smirked confidently at him, ‘today was me holding back anyway,’ she shrugged her shoulders lightly and nodded her head off in the direction of the changing rooms. ‘I need to go and get wet now.’

‘Showers,’ Byakuya corrected, spoiling her fun, ‘she’s going for a shower.’

Rukia ignored him and gracefully manoeuvred around the interviewers in the direction of the ladies changing area.

‘Rukia that was amazing,’ Isane and Kiy both greeted her enthusiastically.

‘Thanks,’ Rukiasmiled at them and placed a comforting hand on Isane’s arm, ‘you’ll get the points in the free skate, don’t be discouraged.’

‘I know,’ the Japanese skater nodded to her and Rukia felt a little better. Her friend seemed to be feeling a little more confident now that the short was over and that usually made for a better free skate performance. Rukia moved into the shower room after she grabbed her towel and things from her locker.

The shower was quick, just enough to wash the sweat off her body (nothing was worse than cleavage sweat) and tossed her hair up into a messy and un-straightened ponytail then she was sauntering out, her skin flushed from the hot water. Rukia was aware that she looked an absolute riot but decided she could get ready properly back at the hotel.

She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, spotting a message waiting from Gin.

**Big G, 12:12am:** _Outside waiting with Bykauya, I forgot how much fun this man was :)  
P.s That was sarcasm_

Rukia laughed down at the text and fired Gin a quick one to let him know she was done with her shower and she’d meet him out front. It took her a little longer than she’d have liked to squirm her way through the throngs of bodies leaving the building’s side exit. When she did, she spotted Gin who was not standing anywhere close to Byakuya. Actually she couldn’t see her brother at all. She glanced around as she approached her crazily tall friend.

‘Where is he?’ she asked as Gin put his phone back into his pocket.

‘Ah may have told him yeh already left so he’d go away,’ Gin shrugged as they turned to leave, she smirked at him and managed to hold back her laugh. ‘Yeh were amazing by the way.’

‘Thanks,’ Rukia smirked pulling her phone out and spotting a significant amount of notifications. Naturally it was common after a live performance of hers for everyone to tag her on Twitter, Facebook and many other platforms.

She even had a nice text from Alison, the girl who ran her dance studio and was lead dancer of her old burlesque group. Rukia fired a quick text back. Alison was also looking after both her and Gins apartments while they were gone.

‘That’s ah lot eh Instagram notifications,’ Gin said in an offhand sort of way, like he knew what they were. She tapped the icon and dove into them, seeing a lot of new followers on the back of her live performance. They were nothing new though and she was about to tap out of it when her obnoxious best friend reached over with his obnoxiously long arm and his obnoxiously pointy finger and flicked further down the list of notifications until she saw some that caught her eye.

‘Well now would yeh look a’ tha’,’ Gin said not sounding at all surprised. Toshiro had not only replied back to her comment but he’d also commented on one of her own pictures as well as followed her and liked a lot of her images.

She blinked curiously down at her phone an odd feeling residing in her stomach.

Rukia quickly glanced over the comments he left on one of her DC shoe promotional images, which was four comments in a row.

**@Toshhiba  
(heart eyes)  
  
@Toshhiba  
The shoes I mean  
  
@Toshhiba  
Obviously… O.o  
  
@Toshhiba  
(wink face)**

‘He’s flirting with you,’ Gin commented as if he thought Rukia were too obtuse to realise. She rolled her eyes and pocketed her phone.

‘I guess,’ she said lazily.

‘Aren’t you going tae reply?’ Gin sounded almost annoyed at her.

‘No, why would I, it isn’t like I’m ever going to see him agai-’

‘Hey Rukia!’ a very familiar voice called out and Rukia’s head snapped around in the direction of the voice. There he was, standing there looking like a cute little dream with the silly beanie on his head and his face flushed with the cold, his eyes wide and his hand waving enthusiastically in her direction.

Her eyes widened in shock, _absolutely not_. No way was she seeing Mr White Hair Sex on Legs when she had just come out a shower, no makeup, no hair straighteners and in a pair of light cottons. That was absolutely not going to be a thing that would happen in this lifetime. Rukia turned so quickly she got a head rush and flitted so fast she was sure she’d have just disaparated if she had been allowed to attend Hogwarts.

It took Gin a moment to catch up with her again as she made her way off in the other direction.

‘Rukia,’ he called out, finally catching up to her tiny limbs with a few large strides of his own, ‘what the hell was tha’?’

‘What was what?’ Rukia decided to play completely dumb while she thought of a more logical response for her actions, her heart was going crazy in her chest like she’d just seen a ghost. His white hair was perhaps close but he should never have been able to elicit such a response like that from her. What the hell was he even doing here anyway!?

‘You just ran away fae Toshiro,’ Gin sounded genuinely annoyed at her now, but she kept her head down and made her way in a long roundabout way back to the hotel.

‘I didn’t run,’ she scowled up at him after a second.

‘Well Jesus fucking Christ tha’ was the fastest power walk yeh’ve ever done,’ he scowled back down at her. ‘Why didn’t yeh go an’ say hello?’

‘I didn’t power walk,’ she scowled choosing to ignore his other question.

‘Why didn’t yeh say hello?’ Gin asked putting a hand on her shoulder and pulling her back with a yelp to face him.

‘Because,’ Rukia floundered and she never floundered, waving a hand in his direction she could feel heat rising in her cheeks. ‘Because I just, because he, I just, look at me!’ she waved a hand at herself and Gin was looking at her in shock. ‘I’m in no condition to see anyone, if that had been anyone else they’d have elicited the same response from me.’

‘Would you have blushed fir anyone else tae?’ Gin asked, his eyes glossing over her face.

She scowled at him, but even through her anger she could feel the heat on her cheeks, which just made Gin break into that large, slightly creepy grin of his.

‘You’re blushing,’ he laughed, his loud voice booming and Rukia quickly glanced around to make sure no one was really paying them any attention.

‘I am not,’ Rukia huffed but she knew it was a complete lie. It was a completely involuntary reaction that had happened, she didn’t _want_ to blush. She wasn’t even sure why her body had decided to betray her. Her ex best friends booming laugh sounded around her she flipped him off and stormed away in the direction of the hotel.

Gin kept trying to apologise all the way back, but Rukia gritted her teeth and decided to dutifully ignore him. She kept silent in the elevator, while he whined pathetically about her ignoring him and tried to figure out where the response had come from. It was obviously natural to not want to see someone when you weren’t looking your best, she finally decided, nodding to herself. It had been a very obvious reaction to have. Rukia hated getting caught by the press on the back of a skate when she looked like a hobo or a drug user more than she looked like a normal human. Performances always took their toll on her, she hated being seen after them, and it was as simple as that.

Rukia continued to ignore Gin all the way down the hall and towards her room.

‘…but you are coming oot karaoking with us tonight aren’ yeh?’ he whined. Rukia sighed but of course she loved a good karaoke night.

‘Fine,’ she glared at him, ‘you owe me at least three Greatest Showman songs,’ she huffed and a wicked grin spread across her newly-reinstated-best-friends face.

‘Naturally,’ Gin chuckled waving as he ducked away to his room. Rukia slipped into her room and went about unpacking her equipment and costume before sitting on the bed and putting on the TV. The pair skaters were currently on, and she watched only half paying attention as she responded to various tweets on twitter.

Soon a name caught her attention and her eyes were drawn back to the TV. A young blonde girl and her partner were skating across the ice, the two of them looking thrilled at being able to compete in their first ever Olympics. Rukia recognised the surname, Shiba, and remembered from the article that this had to be Toshiro’s little sister.

 _Of course._ That’s why he’d been there. Rukiae smiled, it made sense, he’d gone to watch his sister skate and obviously spotted Rukia outside as he was going in. As for calling her name, well, she wasn’t at all surprised. If Gin was right then his sister was a fan and if Toshiro had been at all curious one google and he’d have found out who she was. The Irish team was tiny and there were only two women from Ireland here, so it made her name very easy to find.

She studied the pairs’ performance. They did well, considering their ages and coming from a country where figure skating wasn’t the top of the list of competitive sports. In the first group of six pairs they were in second place and unless they really cocked up in their free skate it was very obvious to Rukia that the two would have no issues qualifying.

Rukia went around the room, tidying up and putting things away, a task she had to complete on a regular basis because she was naturally quite a disorganised and messy person. Gin often complained of her ‘floor-drobe’ when he stayed over despite the fact she instructed him it gave her the best visual sight of all her clothes so she could more easily pair colours and outfits together. Smiling fondly, she tucked her phone away and was heading towards the door to take a wander down to the canteen when Soi Fon walked in. Jumping out of the way of the opening door, Rukia smiled warmly at her team mate.

‘How did you get on?’ Soi Fon asked, pausing just inside to close the door behind her.

‘Yeah first,’ she shrugged and Soi Fon snorted and rolled her eyes.

‘Like I even needed to ask,’ she sighed sounding only a little jealous. ‘Well done.’

‘Thanks,’ Rukia’s nose caught the scent of food and Soi Fon held up a bag.

‘I figured you’d have come first, so I got you a tiny little bit of cheese for the side if you were wanting a treat.’

Rukia’s mouth watered. As a figure skater she was on a strict lean diet devolved of anything fatty or sugary. Every single pound on the ice was a pound she couldn’t afford, so she rarely ate outside of her strict dietary plans.

A pinch of cheese was a treat and often only enjoyed when she really wanted to pig out. Rukia followed Soi Fon like a puppy as the slightly taller woman dumped the bag down on the bed. The snowboarder pulled out a box and passed it along to Rukia along with wooden utensils because saving the planet meant no more plastic.

Popping open the lid, she was greeted with a grilled chicken breast sitting on a bed of leafy greens and broccoli, the cheese sitting in a tiny cup at the side and Rukia quickly tucked in, saving the cheese for the very end to just tip out of the cup and directly onto her tongue.

‘Jesus calm down Rukia,’ Soi Fon snorted across the room where she was able to enjoy a dinner of grilled steak and sweet potatoes, as well as a starter of black bean soup. Rukia tried not to be too jealous. Everyone made sacrifices for their sports and instead she just sat and happily inhaled the tiny little bits of cheese that had been stuck to the bottom of the paper container.

They sat in companionable silence while watching the men’s short programme now on the TV. Rukia normally didn’t much care for the pairs or ice dancers, there was often sometimes a tiny bit of rivalry between the duo competitors and the singles, but it was all amicable enough. She was very interested in the men’s though because sometime soon one of them would attempt the illustrious quad axel.

None of them did during the heat though. The change in grades of execution was challenging everyone’s performance styles this year and it was interesting to witness.

‘Gin just text me,’ Soi Fon announced and Rukia turned around to see the short haired woman gazing down at her phone, ‘we’re doing karaoke tonight?’

‘Yeah apparently,’ Rukia smiled and turned back towards the television.

‘Well you’re not going out looking like that,’ she pocketed the device and stood up opening her bag and pulling a couple of smaller pouches out of it.

Rukia gazed curiously over as she made her way towards the low desk that had a vanity mirror in front of it. Then Soi Fon started laying out loads of different kind of makeup brushes. When the heck did Soi Fon get into makeup? Rukia tried to mentally rewind, she’d never really seen Soi Fon wearing anything more than some basic eye liner similarly to what Rukia did.

‘What are you doing?’ Rukia asked apprehensively as she eyed the makeup warily.

‘About to give you a makeover,’ she smirked back and Rukia’s eyebrows shot into her hair line. Alright, interesting… Rukia was never one to back away from a challenge, perhaps it was the competitor inside of her but she was willing to give this a try. Without overthinking anything she slipped off the bed and sat dutifully in the seat Soi Fon had turned to face her.

What Rukia hadn’t been prepared for, was the questions.

‘So, Gin mentioned you ran away from Toshiro today, care to explain why?’

Of course there had been an ulterior motive to her getting pampered, but when Soi Fon had asked the question she’d already started on the foundation and so Rukia couldn’t exactly just leave.

‘Gin needs to mind his own business,’ was Rukia’s retort and she heard the other girl laughing. Soi Fon had never been someone who cared about any of these kinds of girly activities. Maybe Rukia had wrongly judged her or maybe she was doing it on behalf Gin.

‘Point taken,’ the other Irish girl retorted, the Gaelic flowing freely between the two of them. Soi Fon only broached the topic a couple more times, asking if Rukia had enjoyed herself and if she planned on seeing Toshiro again. Each time Rukia shot down her questions until the other girl gave up and the topic turned towards their sports and performances and whether or not Gin would place this year.

Rukia became more and curious the longer the woman took, feeling the brushes dusting her skin with feather light touches. Soi Fon was close, intently eyeballing her own work as she went and Rukia relaxed into having her personal space invaded. After a few more minutes of being gently prodded, poked and stroked Soi Fon took a step back, closing her open container of eye shadow with a quick “snap”.

‘I’m done,’ she said and Rukia opened her eyes, turning curiously to gaze at the mirror.

Holy cow! Rukia’s eyebrows shot up, she hadn’t been sure what exactly she had been expecting but it seriously wasn’t this. Her skin looked flawless, not a freckle to be seen, her lashes looking ten times thicker than they ever had in their life and evenly fanned out across the length of her eyes. The lids shimmered with a stunningly blended smoky eye look, a pale peachy-pink blending down to a slightly darker plum purple and the wings of the eyeliner were literal mirrored perfection.

‘Wow,’ Rukia said sitting back and blinking dumbly at herself, ‘when did you learn to do that?’

‘Just because I’m a lesbian doesn’t mean I can’t be girly,’ Soi Fon rolled her eyes as she tided away her cosmetics, ‘I actually want to go into makeup professionally when I am done with snowboarding.’

‘I never would have thought,’ Rukia breathed still unable to tear her eyes away from the mirrored perfection that was her eye liner. ‘You have to teach me some time.’

‘I will,’ Soi Fon smirked, ‘but I’m no good at hair, get your hair done and pop something on, it’s time for karaoke and a drink.’

Rukia smiled as she slid off the seat and made her way back towards her bed, pulling out her little travel sized straighteners.

‘What are you going to do about that bite on your neck?’ Soi Fon called, only a hint of amusement in her voice.

‘I have chokers,’ Rukia replied as she slowly started to straighten her hair in the mirror. It was true she loved a good neck nibble, thus bringing things to cover it were paramount. She had two black chokers that would match her outfit hidden away in her bag, she’d throw one on to cover the worst of the mark.

Between the two of them it took a lot longer to get ready than they had first anticipated and an aggressive knock from Gin confirmed this.

‘Hurry up,’ he called through the door, as if worried he was going to be late for something. Rukia rolled her eyes and ignored him, pulling her boots onto her feet and throwing a thicker jacket on. She had tights to keep the chill completely from her legs but she’d likely still be freezing on the walk over. Her dress was much more like a long top, the dark red hue a reminder of the costume she’d worn that very day. This one was a little more modest though, the long arms coming down to her wrists and the back covered, the only thing it did highlight were her thighs and ass which were her greatest assets. With the black boots secured, Rukia stood up and they made their way over to the door. Gin was standing in a gun metal grey shirt looking very fresh, if a little exasperated at their time.

‘Why are you in such a rush?’ Rukia grumbled as they were practically shoved down the corridor in the direction of the elevators.

‘They fill up the karaoke slots quickly,’ he mumbled and Rukia just rolled her eyes at him again. They didn’t stall any longer, walking down to the lobby where Renji and Ichigo both seemed to be waiting for their group to arrive. Another sly comment about their time keeping from the two giant red heads and suddenly they were out into the chilly evening air and heading towards the only real source of fun for the athletes.

Rukia had been right about her legs, the chill sliced through her pathetic little tights like a knife in a horror movie. She gritted her teeth, it wasn’t as if she weren’t used to the cold. Most winter athletes took pure ice baths just to help their muscles recover. Rukia wasn’t a fan of them but she did do it, she preferred being warmer, bundled up in covers and sleeping was one of her favourite places to be alas it wasn’t very social and tonight was about being social.

Thankfully they were all feeling the chill so the whole group managed to speed walk in the direction of the bar. Rukia clocked the two security guards outside, but the blond one had just wandered off on their approach. The dark haired one turned to them and his eyes lit up as he saw Rukia approach.

‘Hey,’ she smiled gently at him, batting her eyelashes a little too heavily. ‘It’s really cold tonight, can we just go in?’ she asked.

His eyes flickered around them all and back to Rukia’s.

‘Well, I’m really meant to search for alcohol and drugs an-’

‘I can assure you we’ve not got anything,’ she stepped forward and slid her hands up his black puffer jacket, his eyes going wide at the proximity. ‘They’re very lucky though,’ her voice dropped to a subtle purr, ‘to have someone as handsome and as dedicated as you guarding the door.’

He started to stutter as Rukia turned their bodies a little, his attention following her like a fat kid to a doughnut. They were now angled away from the Irish lot and without needing to be told the group slipped into the bar while Rukia continued to torture the poor guy.

‘Well, I just… want to make sure you’re all safe,’ he finally stuttered out and she smirked up at him.

‘You’re doing an amazing job,’ Rukia winked and he blushed furiously. ‘Maybe I can do something to return the favour some time?’

She hadn’t quite meant it to be as suggestive as it had come out but the man’s face lit up and he quickly pulled out his phone.

‘Can I have a picture?’ he asked eagerly and she chuckled and nodded. Rukia waited patiently for him to pull his snow glove off and then shrink down so he was level enough for the two of them to be in the frame together. He snapped the picture and thanked her before letting her slip into the warmth of the bar.

The group were waiting for her just inside, Renji looking a little impressed with his arm wrapped around Ichigo who seemed to be looking around for someone else and Gin grinning madly down at her.

‘Yeh dae ken tha’ you just helped meh sneak in three bottles o’ alcohol?’ he chuckled causing Rukia to smirk mischievously. Probably the athletes shouldn’t have been drinking as much as they were… but they were Irish, being drunk helped their performances. That’s the excuse they all used and she was going to stick by it. They wove through the throngs of people being led by Ichigo. Rukia only had about two seconds to spot the very vivid red and white hair of the power duo before Toshiro was being turned around to face her.

Damn.

He was wearing a stunningly tight shirt of dark teal and washed out grey tinged jeans. The colours sitting on him beautifully and highlighting how painfully attractive he was. Images of what lay underneath those thin layers flooded her mind until she was saved by Ichigo.

‘Rukia, this is my sister Yuzu, she’s a pairs skater.’ Ichigo announced clearly meaning the talented young blonde he’d just pulled forward who stood almost frozen to the spot with a steadily paling face. Gin had mentioned that Yuzu was a fan of hers and Rukia also wanted to make a good impression so she smiled to the young girl.

Judging by her pale face it maybe wasn’t worth mentioning that Rukia had watched her performance that day, it would likely cause her to pass out. Rukia also didn’t want the Shiba siblings to know that she’d maybe been stalking their brother.

‘Yeah I think I’ve seen you around before,’ Rukia lied smoothly, feeling the eyes of everyone on her including Toshiro, ‘you’ve just moved up from the junior division, right?’ She was refusing to look at the white haired snowboarder right now, her attention fully focused on the girl in front of her.

‘Y-yeep,’ Yuzu peeped, not offering Rukia a whole lot more than that as Ichigo jumped in to save her once again.

‘They just took gold at the Junior Grand Prix,’ he said, the pride evident in his voice as he spoke, ‘and they came second in their first senior heat today.’

‘And Yuzu is a huge fan of yours,’ the girl’s pair partner said, nudging her, ‘right babe?’ Judging by the nickname Rukia decided that it was likely they were dating. Rukia offered Yuzu a kind smile because she wasn’t really sure what to say to the very embarrassed skater in front of her friends and family.

‘Cute,’ Rangiku fawned over the smaller girl for a second before pulling everyone else’s attention away from the situation, ‘now how about some karaoke?’

Most of the two countries cheered and before Rukia knew exactly what was happening she had a guiding hand on her back pushing her in the direction of the stage where everyone seemed to be moving.

‘Greatest showman,’ Gin said in her ear, ‘Ah owe yeh.’

‘Yes you do,’ Rukia beat back the embarrassment of performing in front of the Australian team, she was here to have fun and if it meant avoiding Toshiro to make things less awkward then she was prepared to do that.

‘Ah’ll go grab the microphones,’ Gin slipped away and Rukia stood waiting for him to return, she felt a little awkward alone and smiled pleasantly at Renji as he approached, ready to make conversation. However the tall red head had that wicked grin on his face… the one that was usually there when he was going to prank someone… Rukia took a hesitant step back, Renji was a notorious prankster. She didn’t trust that smile nor that little glint in his eye.

‘What are you-’ Rukia started but found herself unable to do more than make a squeak in protest as she was pulled effortlessly into his large burly arms.

‘Up you go, Rukia!’ Renji called loudly as she was practically shoved up onto the stage. What the hell? She took a moment to get her footing, glaring down at the giant. She could have used the steps! Did he just like reminding the world how short she was? Gin would have helped her up!

She opened her mouth to say something mean and clever back at him but her voice choked in her throat as he turned his attention in the direction of the Australian lot.

‘You need help with him too or?’ Renji asked the question to Rangiku, clearly talking about Toshiro. It felt like someone had spilled cold water down her back, she watched, horrified as Rangiku shoved a very unwilling Toshiro into Renji’s arms and the burly man hoisted the short snowboarder up onto stage beside Rukia.

OH NO!

It was a setup!

She’d been led into a false sense of security the whole night, her best friend promising her Greatest Showman Karaoke and had literally plotted behind her back, likely with Rangiku to lead to this moment. Rukia searched the crowd and eventually found Gin’s face, looking rightfully guilty up at her. She stared at him horrified, how could he do this to her? What if it was a song she didn’t know? She had no idea what the heck they were even expected to be singing?

‘Okay we have our next two up and ready,’ the DJ said. He was an average sized guy (tall to Rukia) with short dark hair, thick framed glasses and a bored looking expression. ‘We have Toshiro from Australia and Rukia from Ireland singing “Rewrite the Stars” from The Greatest Showman.’

Fuck no!

Not a love song.

He stepped forward and handed both her and Toshiro a microphone and Rukia refused to look at the snowboarder… this couldn’t be happening. She turned toward the screen and waited for her doom to start, one of her favourite songs of the show was about to be ruined by a crippling anxiety attack and a reminder of the day she murdered her best friend.

There was only one redeeming quality of this song, it was Toshiro to start… he had the full first part including chorus as his character tried to convince hers that they were a good idea and that they’d work despite the odds against them. It was one of her favourite songs to sing with Gin after a few glasses and the sing along version running on the TV in the background.

On what planet did their friends think this was a good idea? It had been a one night stand. Had Rukia enjoyed it? Oh yes… she had. Toshiro was painfully attractive it hurt to even just look at him, of course she’d enjoyed it, she was only human. That didn’t mean this had to develop into anything else though… except maybe another couple of one night stands but Gin knew she never went back for seconds. She’d never done it before, ever.

The fact Toshiro hadn’t fled the stage yet meant he was actually sticking around to sing with her. Not that he was the flight risk out of the two of them. Rukia had already proven on two occasions that she was the flight risk. She cringed internally at the thought, she hated thinking of herself as weak enough for that but in her eyes she could justify both. The first had been because she never stayed over after sleeping with someone and the second because she’d just been performing and hadn’t been in a physical state worth being seen.

Now she had neither of those excuses, if she ran away now it would be out of nothing more than fear and she refused. Feet planted to the spot Rukia stared at the screen as the song started and was only pulled from her inner musings when Toshiro started to sing.

‘ _You know I want you_ ,’ he sung. Rukia’s head snapped around so fast she had to rub her neck. His voice was husky, low, _sexy,_ and the Australian accent wrapped around the song’s lyrics adding an extra depth to them that had never been present before when sung by Gin. _‘It’s not a secret I try to hide.’_

The high tones of the music started as the song continued. Toshiro was blushing, the delicate pink colour dusting his high cheekbones beautifully in the dull bar lighting. His eyes were focused and intent on the screen. ‘ _I know you want me,’_ he continued, cringing slightly. ‘ _So don’t keep saying our hands are tied._

‘ _You claim it's not in the cards, fate is pulling you miles away and out of reach from me. But you're here in my heart so who can stop me if I decide that you're my destiny?_ ’ Rukia couldn’t take her eyes off him. His voice alone was causing that weird lurching feeling in her stomach again. She’d genuinely thought she’d have gotten rid of that feeling by sleeping with him and getting it out of her system… but he was as addictive as a burlesque performance, giving her a thrill that she was drawn too despite knowing that it was going to end badly for her. Why was he now refusing to look at her? Was it because the lyrics meant something, did they mean something to him? Was she over thinking this entire thing? Rukia watched as his eyes slid down to the audience and she followed his gaze for a moment spotting many phones out including Rangiku’s and Gin’s and she scowled at her best friend. As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough he had the audacity to be taking pictures?

As if noticing his discomfort on stage though Toshiro’s sisters were giving him small cheers and claps of approval that were picked up by some of the other athletes in the bar and seemed to stir Toshiro on as he hit the chorus.

 **‘** _What if we rewrite the stars? Say you were made to be mine. Nothing could keep us apart; you’d be the one I was meant to find.’_ His eyes slid from the screen to Rukia for a moment and she realised the expression on her face likely wasn’t the cool, calm and collected look she’d hoped he’d see when he turned to her.

‘ _It’s up to you, and it’s up to me,_ ’ he sang, raising an eyebrow in her direction like he was actually trying to tell her that it was up to them. What the heck was up to them? To sleep together again? If he was asking for that, she’d be more than happy to oblige… they were two consenting adults right? ‘ _No one can say what we get to be, so why don’t we rewrite the stars? Maybe the world could be ours, tonight.’_

Rukia could hear part of the bar cheering loudly for the snowboarders performance and she had to agree with them. It had been beautifully sung and now she was about to come in and ruin it with her grubby little voice. The break in the music meant that Rukia could finally tear her eyes away from his patient and curious gaze as they both turned toward the screen.

‘ _You think it’s easy,’_ Rukia sung and she spotted his head snap back around from the corner of her eyes to gaze at her. Maybe he genuinely hadn’t expected her to sing along with him? Maybe Toshiro expected her to run away again as she had already done to him several times. ‘ _You think I don’t want to run to you, but there are mountains, and there are doors that we can’t walk through.’ Like hell_ would she run away from a Greatest Showman performance… that was blasphemy?

Rukia wished she could see his expression just now. She could feel his eyes boring into her, the heat in her cheeks she could simply blame on the alcohol and the fact everyone’s attention was on her… not to mention she didn’t have as good a singing voice as him, but she refused to back down and run away again.

‘ _No one can rewrite the stars,’_ the chorus hit and Rukia sung the slightly divergent lyrics, only sparing him a quick glance before snapping back to look at the screen. _‘How can you say you’ll be mine? Everything keeps us apart, and I’m not the one you were meant to find.’_

From the corner of her eye she saw Toshiro take a step towards her. Why did this have to be so embarrassingly awkward? Why was she thirsting so hard for him? Why was he so different to the other guys she’d come across?

 **‘** _It’s not up to you, it’s not up to me, when everyone tells us what we can be,_ ’ Gin and Renji choose that moment to cheer loudly for her despite the music still being quiet and she smiled gently down at them. Those little fuckers were the reason she was now up here singing with Toshiro… Rukia would be polite for the cameras pointing in her face meanwhile plotting her revenge which would come later. ‘ _How can we rewrite the stars? Say that the world can be ours, tonight.’_

The next part of the song was where the duet really struck and Rukia turned to meet his gaze, his face looked hopeful, like he wanted something to happen between them and she felt that lurch in her stomach again like she’d just landed another quad jump. The feeling was just as addictive as it was sickening and only served to further feed her confusion.

_‘All I want is to fly with you_ _  
All I want is to fall with you  
So just give me all of you.’_

What did that even mean anyway? To give someone “all of you” surely that was alarmingly dangerous? Toshiro didn’t seem to think so, he seemed to be pouring a lot of passion into the song for just a one night stand.

 _‘It feels impossible,’_ she sung, because it did. It felt impossible.

 _‘It’s not impossible,’_ Toshiro quickly fired back, almost a little ahead of the lyrics timing. She realised he wasn’t even looking at the screen now… which meant he knew the song lyrics off by heart.

 _‘Is it impossible?’_ Rukia questioned, the anxious lurching of her stomach now seemed to have coiled itself into a constant feeling as they sung this part of the song. Her character was relenting but Rukia wasn’t willing too yet, after all they were both after different things right? The characters in this song were singing their love for each other… what Rukia held for Toshiro (and she was pretty sure was reciprocated) was a physical connection.

 _‘Say that it’s possible.’_ They both sang, she couldn’t help the smile that lit up her face at the fact they were both singing in perfect timing with each other, neither one looking at the screen for help. It was her turn to take a small step towards him as they hit the chorus, the two of them singing together.

Rukia was so close to him she could see the way the lights of the bar danced in his massive eyes, framed by those thick and distracting lashes. Toshiro had a smile on his face as he sung and she was pretty sure hers was still evident as well. From a chorus so full of hope and agreement, the music slowed and Rukia prepared herself for the part of the song she related too more than any of the other parts she’d been made to sing before.

‘ _You know I want you, it’s not a secret I try to hide,’_ Rukia sung, it was true… almost everyone in their two teams must have now known how much she wanted him. She should have probably been embarrassed by it, the way her body reacted to him, becoming so pliable like she just wanted to mould herself against him constantly. Rukia took a step back at the words and Toshiro took a step forward, refusing to let the distance between them happen. She tried not to smile at that thought. ‘ _But I can’t have you, we’re bound to break and my hands are tied.’_

The music came to a finish and the entire bar erupted, cheers and claps of applause drowning out her thoughts. Rukia needed a place to recalibrate them, so once the DJ walked over and collected their microphones Rukia slipped off the stage. This time she used the stairs at the front rather than being man handled by another member of the Irish team.

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ Gin caught her tightly by the arm as she tried to slip passed him, ‘where are yeh goin’?’

‘Tae ger ah drink,’ she mocked his accent and glared up at him. He grinned down at her, the smile reaching his eyes and she knew the mischief wasn’t over and done with yet. A moment of dread passed over her, just how much more could they put her through tonight? If she was forced to do anything else with Toshiro she was going to snap and jump him… perhaps Gin hadn’t fully comprehended just how attracted she was to the snowboarder.

‘Ah already got you ah drink,’ he spun Rukia around with ease and steered her towards a booth they’d reserved at the back of the bar. They had to walk around the side in order to sit down, the booth not being in full view of the dance floor or the makeshift stage for the karaoke. It looked a little more private and she glared up at Gin, instantly suspicious.

He shoved her down on the inside and sat on the outside putting a drink on the table in front of her.

‘What about your drink?’ she questioned glaring at him.

‘Renji is bringin’ it,’ he glanced around before shrugging.

‘You expect me to trust this drink?’ she glared down at it and Gin looked mortally offended for a moment.

‘Rukia,’ he whined, ‘what are yeh tryna say?’

‘I’m trying to say I don’t trust you and Renji,’ she glared at him and Gin grinned, his eyes twinkling.

‘Would you trust it if Toshiro had been the yin tae bring yeh it?’ he asked sheepishly and Rukia jerked back away from him. Her reaction even caught her off guard, the colour rising in her cheeks again and Gin’s grin only widening further on his conniving face.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ Rukia heard a voice hiss and she glanced up to see Rangiku shoving Toshiro in the direction of the booth that she and Gin currently occupied. Rukia quickly looked away, it was clear this plan of theirs wasn’t over yet and she groaned internally, wanting to do nothing more than drown herself in her drink. Gin had turned to Rangiku and beamed up at her. Rukia glared at her best friend and only barely resisted the urge to kick him under the table. Hadn’t she and Toshiro been tortured enough today?

‘Sit,’ Rangiku instructed. Their booth was one of those semi-circular ones, which Rukia was sitting on the inside of. She now realised her mistake as Rangiku tried to force Toshiro to sit on the inside of the other entrance point. Toshiro seemed to notice this too and was doing everything in his power to stop that from happening.

‘Ladies first,’ he tried, taking a step back and signalling for Rangiku to go first, but the strawberry blonde woman wasn’t having any of it.

‘Age before beauty,’ she tried, shoving him again.

‘I’m younger than you,’ he pointed out but that only served Rangiku a ball to smack and she shoved him harshly down into the booth where he had no choice but to correct himself. As soon as his legs had slipped into the inside of the both Rangiku was blocking his escape by sitting down beside him. As if things couldn’t get more awkward a silence passed over all four of them that had Rukia wanting to drop her head down into her hands. It was clear he didn’t want to sit next to her and she didn’t want to sit next to him either so why were their “best friends” doing this to them?

The awkward silence was broken only when Toshiro’s sisters approached. The darker haired girl, whose name Rukia couldn’t remember, was carrying a tray of drinks and was accompanied by Yuzu. Rukia noticed that the blonde twin was refusing to look at her, she didn’t take any offence of course, she’d met many young skaters who looked up to her and knew the reaction was quite common, which was a pity because she’d have welcomed _any_ distraction right now.

‘Shove, Love,’ the dark haired girl said. Rukia quickly glanced up to see just how much Rangiku was _enjoying_ this. She was giggling and turning to Toshiro with a smile as wide as the dawn.

‘Yeah shove, Love,’ Rangiku said and Rukia quickly looked back at her drink only now realising where this was going. As more and more people would approach and ask to sit down, the gap beside Toshiro and Rukia would lessen until they’d be sitting against each other. It was a well devised plan and Rukia knew that there were far more forces at work here than just Gin and Rangiku. Toshiro slid closer to Rukia, she could see him out the corner of her eye and Rangiku followed him until there was enough room for Yuzu and her twin to sit down.

‘Move over,’ Soi Fon barked at Gin who looked far too happy to comply.

‘Certainly,’ he smiled before turning around and shoved Rukia until the Irish girl groaned and slid along, pulling her drink with her. Next to the table came Renji and Ichigo, the red haired Irish lad smirked at Rukia and demanded extra space… probably for his giant ass ego. She gritted her teeth but slid closer until her and Toshiro were only one space apart.

If she could develop super powers this would be the best moment, the power to create black holes that she could just open one up under the table and slip under and fall into. Alas it wasn’t meant to be and the final member of the Australian party arrived in the form of Yuzu’s boyfriend, which meant that Toshiro had to move. Except he refused and Rukia spared him a glance out the corner of her eye where Rangiku actually had to shove him and he almost fell into Rukia’s lap. Well that would have been twice as awkward, not to say that Rukia wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but Toshiro threw a hand out last moment and caught himself. He slid more gracefully into position until both he and Rukia had their entire sides pressed up against each other.

Rukia could feel the heat of his body radiating off her and she swallowed hard. She was sure she was the only one of the two of them who could feel the electricity flowing from where their bodies touched… it was likely just the sexual desire talking. Even after last night she was still badly lusting after him and it was embarrassing, she should have had much more self-control than this.

‘So, Rukia,’ Rangiku turned towards her and Toshiro’s body jerked for a moment like he’d been trying to kick her under the table. ‘We watched your performance this morning, it was really brilliant.’

Fuck, Rukia had to turn towards Rangiku to reply, otherwise it would just look callous and she refused to ruin any chance Gin had with Rangiku because she was too worried about getting turned on around Toshiro. This was ridiculous. She turned so she could see Rangiku and uttered a very quiet “thank you.” Hoping it would be enough to dispel the discussion and she could move on.

‘Toshiro thought it was good too,’ Rangiku continued, sipping her drink, ‘he thought it was _really_ good, didn’t you Tosh?’

What on earth did that mean? Rukia spared Toshiro a glance and noticed he’d gone a little pale, still refusing to look at her. If it insinuated what she thought… then maybe another one night stand to get it out of their system was needed. She tried to relax a little at the idea but then-

‘Are you blushing Rukia?’ Renji asked, his voice booming through the surrounding area and causing the entire two teams to turn their attention at first to him and then onto Rukia, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush before.’

Rukia hadn’t even realised and raised her hand to gently touch her cheeks, she could indeed feel the heat of her skin burning gently against her slightly colder finger tips. With everyone’s attention now focused on her she could feel the heat spreading.

‘Now she’s blushing even more,’ Soi Fon commented but was very clearly enjoying Rukia’s discomfort. Well it was deserved, after all Rukia had ended up on the floor of the airport laughing at her when Renji had pranked her… Rukia definitely did deserve this, but it made her feel horrible. She swallowed thickly, feeling like her emotions were spiralling out of control. Why was she so embarrassed? It was only sex and lord knows she didn’t feel embarrassed about anything sexual… except maybe that one mishap that had sent her to emergency room.

‘You know what,’ Gin started and Rukia knew this wasn’t going to end well at all. ‘Ah saw her blushin’ earlier today. Hmmm, when was tha’ again?’ Gin said thoughtfully tapping his chin but very clearly knowing exactly what moment he was referring too. Rukia felt a small piece of her die inside because she knew exactly what he was going to say. ‘Oh that’s richt, when she ran awa’ fae Toshiro at the rink.’

Finally everyone stopped looking at Rukia and turned their attention toward Toshiro instead. Rukia took the opportunity to take a very long drink of alcohol from her glass. Hoping the cold would quell the heat from her cheeks as she glared bloody murder at Gin. He was just out to make this as awkward and as uncomfortable as he could and yet he knew about Rukia’s control issues. They’d discussed her obsessive need to control things in her life, especially her sexual relationships given how little control she had over everything else in her life.

‘Aw now Tosh is blushing too,’ Rangiku cooed and Rukia snuck a glance at him to see Rangiku pinching his cheek, ‘you’re such a cutie, Bub.’

Bub?

‘Fuck off,’ Toshiro hissed at her and Rangiku giggled and patted his cheek.

‘Oh I made him mad,’ she chuckled before turning her attention away. ‘Wanna go dance?’ Rukia glanced up to see her making eyes at Gin from across the table.

‘Ah would love tae,’ Gin grinned back at her.

That caused everyone else sitting to have to stand up and move to let them out. There was a lot of shuffling and sliding and during it all Rukia felt the heat from Toshiro’s body leave her as he too tried to scramble out. Rukia stared down at her drink and wondered how many more she’d need to get completely hammered. After a brief quiet chat with Rangiku though, Toshiro didn’t leave the table. Instead he sat back down as everyone else left them alone and Rukia did her best to internalise her groan.

This wasn’t how she wanted to spend her evening… if they were alone in a bedroom she’d be fine. She’d know exactly what to do in that situation but here, they were in the middle of a crowded bar and their friends and his family were all around them. Everyone else started to disperse, most heading for the dance floor and one or two heading for drinks.

‘I’m sorry about Rangiku,’ Toshiro started softly, there was a little bit of space between them now but not enough. His stupid accent washed over her and she could feel heat pooling in her groin, ‘she’s a menace.’

Rukia wasn’t even listening to him, not really. She was focused intently on her drink planning her next move.

‘I don’t really understand what’s going on,’ Toshiro continued and she bit the inside of her cheek. This was too much talking for her comfort level, too many words being exchanged. She wasn’t good at them, she was better at the physical stuff. If he didn’t shut up soon, she’d shut him up, and she’d enjoy it too. He started speaking again but Rukia’s eyes quickly scanned the area around their booth while she ignored him. There was no one paying them any attention and all their friends had gone off to the dance floor behind the booth now, while he was halfway through speaking she decided to end his words. Rukia slipped as gracefully as she could under the table, hearing Toshiro’s question stutter as he asked her what she was doing. She turned to him and made quick work of the zip on his jeans, reaching in and pulling him out of his boxers like she’d done this a million times before.

With his cock in her hand, she already felt ten times better, much more in control of the situation. He was definitely a shower not a grower, which made sense given that Calvin Klein image that had been haunting her all day since she’d seen it on Rangiku’s instagram.

It only took a couple of strokes for the blood to start pumping enough for her to wrap her mouth around the head of his dick. Toshiro seemed to be in complete shock and she glanced up in time to see him leaning back, his mouth hanging open and his teal eyes wide in confusion.

‘What?!’ he spluttered, but she ignored him closing her eyes and sinking further down on him. His thick cock turning hot and heavy as it became fully erect and she hummed contently at the feeling of it.

The male hormones clawed through the skin potently at this part of the man’s body but Rukia had grown to appreciate it, especially on Toshiro, who she already found very attractive. His musky scent was going straight to the part of her brain that was reserved for better judgement and causing all kinds of crossfires. She pressed down to see how much she could fit into her mouth and winced as it became a little too much for her to handle. Rukia refused to back off now though, instead she took what she couldn’t fit into her hand and held it there for a moment. She rose, letting her tongue bar drag over the head of his cock and smirked to herself as she heard him panting loudly, even above the rather crappy sung rendition of ‘Bear Necessities’ that two people were attempting to sign in the background. She finally began to stroke the base of his cock in time with the rise and fall of her mouth. Allowing her tongue bar to drag right over the frenulum, the small collective bunch of nerves on the head of his dick, she lowered her hand to gently cup his testicles and noticed his legs twitch at the feeling from under the table. Rukia smirked around him and rose back up, the tip of her tongue dragging over the slit at the tip and tasting a little bit of cum there.

‘Toshiro? Are you okay?’

Rukia almost choked on his dick as she heard the sound of one of his sisters from under the table where she was safely hidden from view. Rukia felt the tensing of his muscles though as the hand she wasn’t using to stroke the base of his cock was placed on the top of his thigh.

His whole body jolted in response to the question, clearly as oblivious to someone approaching him as Rukia had been.

‘Why are you sitting by yourself?’ the Australian accent was oddly quiet and worried and Rukia recognised it then; it was Yuzu. She slowed for only a second wondering if this were the best position to find her brother in… getting a blow job from her hero then she decided she didn’t care. That was Toshiro’s problem… not hers.

‘Uhhh,’ Toshiro seemed to be struggling, ‘uh, texting.’

Rukia tried not to laugh around his dick, he was being incredibly obvious and if it had been anyone else approaching the table Rukia was sure they’d have been able to work out right away what had been going on. Yuzu just seemed too innocent.

‘Texting Yukio,’ he continued after a bit of movement. She focused back on her work, sinking back down on his dick and seeing if she could make him crack in front of his sister.

‘You’re all sweaty, are you feeling okay?’ the conversation continued and Rukia watched from the corner of her eye as a knee was placed on the soft red seating of the chair as his sister came in for a closer look. Rukia moved a little Toshiro’s cock dragging against the roof of her mouth as she repositioned herself out of sight.

‘I’m fine!’ Toshiro basically shouted at her and Rukia watched the knee retract. She managed to turn her laughter around his cock into a gentle hum, she was enjoying this far too much. The hum caused the snowboarder to groan and Rukia pursed her lips tighter around the head of his shaft to stop herself choking on her laughter.

Then Rukia heard someone else calling in the distance.

Yuzu now moved away and said something that Rukia could barely hear. Rukia was now focused on the cock in her mouth, she pulled off for a moment and circled the head with her tongue bar, making sure it rubbed fully around the corona.

Then she felt a hand slip into her hair and tug her back. The force caught her off guard and the drag of the rings against her scalp had her oddly compliant to the command. His cock fell from her lips for a second and she glanced up to see fierce teal eyes staring down her, blown wide with lust and worry.

‘My baby sister just went to get my other baby sister,’ Toshiro warned, ‘you need to stop now… or _finish_ me.’

Stop? He couldn’t be serious? Rukia resisted scoffing at that command, like hell was she planning on stopping. Even if she needed to finish him in front of his sisters she didn’t care. His hold slackened off and she greedily engulfed his dick again, practically inhaling it into her mouth. His hand never left her hair and instead seemed to be an encouraging weight on her head. She smirked around his cock knowing that he’d have been very disappointed if she had chosen to stop rather than continue.

His hand was never dominating in its hold, he never held her down and she was free to bob up and down as she pleased, sucking harder around the head in a bid to try and finish him. Now that she’d had a taste, she wanted to taste as much of him as she could.

Toshiro disappeared from view but the way his body was curled over the table above she was sure that he had his head down on the table. That meant he was close. Rukia tried to sink down lower onto his cock, this time swallowing around it to try and get it further into her mouth, barely managing. She realised it was something she’d have to work up to with him… something she’d have to practice. She pulled back, her tongue bar pressed against the bundle of nerves at the head of his dick and swallowed once more when she felt his body stiffen and knew what was coming just a split second before it happened. Warm semen shot into her mouth, the taste hitting the back of her throat like a salty treat and she continued to swallow around the head of his dick, the loud moan from above the table a testament to her hard work and perseverance.

The moment he fell from her mouth, his dick starting to go soft she quickly tucked it inside his boxers but refused to do up his jeans for him. Instead she slipped out from under the table and ducked away. Rukia had no real reason to run away from the crime scene, she just didn’t want to have to handle the conversation that usually followed an act like that. She didn’t want to sit there and talk feelings with him because she wasn’t exactly sure where all that had even come from.

Before she could get very far though she felt a strong arm close around the lower part of her elbow and turn her around harshly.

‘Wha’ was tha’?’ Gin scowled down at her and tugged her in the direction of the dance floor. She went with him willingly, happy for a distraction as the two started to fall into rhythm with each other effortlessly.

‘What was what?’ she asked blinking up at him innocently.

‘You just blew him, an’ then blew him aff,’ Gin frowned down at her and she shrugged. Gin must have been privy to event, despite the fact she’d tried to keep it private. She’d never really seen Gin look mad before but as he spun her around on the dance floor to face him, he looked pissed.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Rukia he’s a man, not a fuckin’ robot, he has feelings.’ Gin scowled at her, ‘anno you jus’ think of men as dicks for your pleasure but that’s not what we are. He deserves more than tha’ Rukia.’

‘What’s the problem?’ she jerked away from him annoyed now, ‘I only wanted a one night stand. It’s everyone else who seems to be pushing us together against our will.’

‘If you dinnae want tae see him again, then why dae yeh blush every time he’s around?’ Gin asked, reaching down to pull her closer to him. She glared up at him. ‘Why are yeh so scared tae see a guy mair than once?’

‘I’m not scared,’ Rukia defended quickly. She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t really sure what drove her away, but it wasn’t fear.

‘Ah think yeh are,’ Gin continued, ‘ah think yer afraid he’ll get under yer skin.’

‘He won’t,’ Rukia said quickly.

‘Then what’s the harm in talkin’ tae him?’ Gin grinned now and spun her around. She hadn’t realised she was being danced towards the bar where Toshiro was sat on a bar stool facing Rangiku. That’s when Gin shoved her.

Rukia yelped as if she’d tripped and stumbled. With impressive speed, Toshiro was off his seat, his arms securely blocking her from a nasty fall, alerted by her yelp.

‘Shit are you okay?’ Toshiro asked, the shock but care evident in his voice.

‘Come on Rukia,’ Gin’s voice boomed, ‘you haven’t even got your skates on.’

Oh this jerk was a comedian alright, forcing her to actually try and come here and have a conversation with the snowboarder despite him knowing how she felt about the whole situation.

‘I’m going to kill him,’ Rukia said glaring at Gin and flipping him off, Toshiro choose to finally let go of her now that she was steady and safe from the lanky Scotsman. He didn’t look at her though as he slid gracefully back onto his stool and sipped at his drink. He seemed almost a little annoyed at her and she bit her tongue. She wasn’t good at these kinds of interactions and Gin knew that, these kinds of social conversations made her very uncomfortable. Rukia tugged nervously at the long sleeves of her dress shirt and glanced around, hoping a topic would come swinging out the air and hit her smack in the face.

It didn’t.

‘I’m sorry,’ Rukia started her voice having lost any kind of confident edge like she’d had when they’d interacted the evening before, ‘I’m not very good at the whole conversation thing.’ She flinched a little at how pathetic that even sounded out loud, ‘I’m better at the _physical_ stuff.’

‘I just need to know what you want,’ Toshiro told her, after a sigh ‘I need to know if I should back off or not.’

Oh god, he was putting the ball in her court, what did she want? Why was that such a difficult question to answer… she wasn’t even sure, it wasn’t a conversation she’d even had with herself yet. Rukia slipped onto the stool beside him, feeling absolutely tiny as she did so, the top of the bar level with her chest and not that far away from her chin.

She’d quite happily sleep with him again. She hadn’t enjoyed blowing someone that much in ages and she had certainly not enjoyed sex that much with anyone else. Rukia absently picked at a bit of chipped wood on the ancient looking bar as she contemplated.

‘I honestly don’t know,’ Rukia shrugged finally, admitting it out loud because she believed she was better being honest with him. ‘I don’t want you to back off.’ Toshiro seemed to contemplate for a moment after her response before responding himself.

‘Ran and I did watch your heat today,’ he said, changing the topic for her and smiling as he did so. He was so beautiful when he smiled, it physically hurt, his two little dimples highlighting the grin between them. ‘You were amazing. It’s not hard to see why you’re the world champion.’

Rukia was used to these kinds of compliments of course she got them all the time. One couldn’t own as many gold medals as she did and not hear this kind of thing often but the way he said it… or maybe it was just the fact that he was the one saying it? Why did he have to be ridiculously handsome? With his sleeves all shoved up and his arms on show and his skin literal perfection, it just wasn’t fair for someone to be so painfully attractive they actually hurt to look at. That weird feeling was back in her stomach again, like she was riding some kind of rollercoaster. Rukia turned towards the bar and desperately wished she had Gin’s flask to be able to handle this conversation.

‘Ah, thanks,’ Rukia mumbled, ‘I didn’t expect you to be there, I thought I only just saw you outside as you were making your way in to see your sisters performance.’ If that was the case then what was he doing outside? She took a second to build her courage before asking the question, ‘what were you doing outside?’

‘I just thought I’d try and catch you if I could,’ Toshiro shrugged casually, ‘just to tell you that your performance was wonderful, but I knew you would be busy so I didn’t expect you to really have time to stop.’

Not the response she’d been expecting. She leaned back her brows shooting up into her hair as this gorgeous man explained he’d only come outside to try and catch her.

Gin regularly told her off for her behaviour towards men. Treat them mean, keep them keen and that one day she’d find herself with a stalker because some men didn’t like being brushed to the side after a sexual encounter. Not that she thought Toshiro was a stalker or anything, just that she could now see what he had meant by the statement. It was likely that the white haired snowboarder was only interested in her because of the fact she’d been unobtainable. She got in, had a quick romp, got what she wanted and left and now here he was admitting to trying to find her outside the stadium after her performance.

She wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about the whole ordeal, she couldn’t exactly get involved with another person from another country that would be impossible. Maybe it was just a sex thing, she decided on. Maybe he hoped it would happen again, she relaxed in her chair after that. It was probably what he was after and she was absolutely 100% okay with that.

‘Well thanks,’ Rukia shoved the topic to the side, ‘I watched your sister on TV when I got back to the hotel, she performed well. You must be pretty proud of her?’

‘I’m very proud of Yuzu,’ he responded, glancing around and smiling proudly when he spotted the girl dancing on the dance floor. Rukia followed his gaze as he continued, ‘she’s come so far in the last year. I know she’s still young and a bit inexperienced but I think she has a lot of potential to grow as skater.’ Rukia nodded with his words. It was true from what Rukia had watched, Yuzu still had room to grow but her passion for her performance was evident and that was hard to learn. One had to feel their routine, feel the music in their very core for the performance to be just right, everything else could be taught over time.

Rukia wasn’t sure where to take the conversation after that, surely if he just wanted sex he’d have asked her to get out of there by now? She quickly searched for another topic, not really wanting the situation to become more awkward than it had already been that day.

‘When is your heat?’ she pulled the first thing that came to her head. Maybe he just wanted to chat a little before sex?

‘I have my slopestyle tomorrow morning,’ Toshiro said turning back to her and Rukia turned to meet his gaze, ‘and my halfpipe the day after.'

She’d heard of the snowboarding events of course, she knew a little bit about them but she didn’t know those events as well as she knew the cross considering that was Gins snowboarding sport. Being able to qualify for two events, two chances to win gold medals surely that was impressive?

‘Well, I wish you the best of luck,’ Rukia nodded, ‘and Irish luck is notoriously the best.’ She was still unsure as to when he was going to invite her upstairs. Maybe he was waiting for her to make the first move? She glanced around the bar and spotted Gin and Rangiku making their way up to karaoke next and she smiled at them. Gin was being really brave, she never would have thought in a million years her friend would have the guts to get as close to Rangiku as he had.

Rukia watched a little shocked as Rangiku very openly flirted with Gin on stage. Rukia didn’t know her well, but she knew women enough to know when someone was very obviously flirting, her rather sensual display only making Gin flounder more and more while from the corner of her eye Rukia spotted Toshiro filming the entire thing. Sneaking a glance at the snowboarder, he had a fond smile on his face as he watched them and she had to wonder… was Rangiku attracted to Gin? All this time the Irish lot just naturally assumed it was only Gin who found Rangiku attractive they never even considered the possibility of it being reciprocated?

Not to say that Gin wasn’t attractive, of course Rukia thought so, she loved him. However Rangiku was a fucking super star in her sport and an international sex icon… it was just a bit of a shock to even consider... Rukia watched their performance and clapped alongside the others in the room as the song came to an end, Toshiro putting his phone away.

‘Why don’t we make things a little more interesting then,’ he said, drawing Rukia’s attention instantly. Was Toshiro finally about to invite her upstairs? ‘How about we make a small bet? If I win my heat tomorrow then you have to come on a date with me?’

Her mouth fell open in shock. She hadn’t been expecting that at all. Rukia blinked, taken aback by the boldness. A date? Like a full day kind of thing? Or just a meal and then sex? She wasn’t sure maybe it was just an Australian thing to have a date first before sex, maybe she’d rushed him into it and the Aussies did things differently. 

‘Alright,’ Rukia said, taking on his bet but feeling a little apprehensive about him being in charge of the entire day… She was never one to shy away from a challenge or a dare. Perhaps it was the competitor in her. Maybe that’s why he’d set it out that way? Understanding fully what athletes could be like when it came to competition.

Rukia was about to ask what he had planned when his sister stumbled over to them, the dark haired twin who’s name she still couldn’t remember. Rukia was really bad at remembering names, she listened as the girl slurred about playing never have I ever and a wickedly devilish grin spread across Rukia’s face. _Yes,_ time for revenge. Her eyes snapped across the room where poor Gin was letting Rangiku slip into a seat before him. It was time for beautiful, beautiful revenge.

Toshiro asked if Rukia wanted to play, his words breaking her stupor.

‘I’d love too,’ Rukia smirked, her eyes sparkling dangerously and her tone even more so. She waited behind to help him carry one of the trays of drinks before making her way across the room towards their unsuspecting friends.

Rukia helped Toshiro hand the drinks out, but not before offering them to Rangiku who seemed to be asking everyone to take a large gulp so she could top them up with Vodka. At the other side of the table, Gin was doing the same with whisky which most of the Irish lot took. Rukia didn’t have a choice though, her drink instantly being assaulted with way too much vodka and Rukia noticed apprehensively that Toshiro’s was also generously topped, more than anyone else’s.

‘Who’s gonna go first then?’ the evil Australian woman asked. 

Rukia was thoughtful for a moment before a devilish smirk appeared over her face.

‘Never have I ever had someone go down on me under a table…’ she muttered lowly intending for only Toshiro to hear her. She could feel Toshiro’s amusement and his hand stretched toward his drink intending to take a private sip when-

‘Wha’ was tha’ Rukia?’ Gin called having spotted her lips moving.

‘Never have I ever had someone go down on me under a table,’ she called a little louder, waiting patiently for that one to sink in.

Toshiro froze beside her and she heard Rangiku choke a on her drink. Rukia did nothing more than stare innocently around at everyone waiting for Toshiro to make his move. It took him a couple of seconds, she didn’t think he’d have the balls to do it in front of precious little baby sisters but he proved her wrong. Knocking his drink back, her eyes sparkled with mischief as she turned to watch him.

There was immediate outcry from his family and Rukia could only smirk at it but the white haired snowboarder was quick to retaliate.

‘Never have I ever gone down on someone under a table,’ he fired back, as if she’d care. Keeping the same mischievous smile on her face she quickly knocked back her own drink. She didn’t care what anyone thought of her or her reputation she was used to dealing with it all by this point. Still Rukia didn’t want the heat to be completely on Toshiro so to try and take some of the heat away from the smallest pair at the table she fired one across to Gin who was looking at her with a mixture of amusement and awe. He was her next target and the smile that slipped from his face proved he knew it.

‘Never have I ever done my chosen sport naked,’ Rukia said and watched the look of horror cross his face. His friends had sent her the videos online and she’d saved them to her phone for any instances of blackmail she saw fit. The smirk that lit up her face was mirrored by the dismay in her friends’.

‘Why you gotta be like tha’ Rukia?’ he mumbled as he reached out for his drink, ‘ah thought we were friends.’

‘Yeah we were, then you shoved me up on stage to do a duet with someone who had a singing voice ten times better than anything I could produce,’ she glared at him as Gin lifted his drink to his lips, his smile returning for a moment before his lips were busy sourcing alcohol into his system.

‘I thought you had an amazing voice,’ Toshiro muttered to her and she felt a shiver of anger up her spine, snapping her head around to glare at him.

‘Nuh uh,’ she snarled back at him, ‘you’ve got a great voice, a great face, sporting talent, a big dick and you’re good in bed, you don’t get to be kind too that’s just not fair.’ She could feel the heat in her cheeks as she said it but quickly snapped around as Gin and his booming laugh died down enough to fire another at her.

‘Never have ah ever done ah strip tease drunk.’ Gin laughed wickedly as Rukia threw back her drink. ‘Ah even have the video,’ Gin supplied obviously feeling very pleased with himself.

Rukia was refusing to look back at Toshiro again, she was sure she’d heard him try and say something on the back of her outburst but her attention was focused entirely on Gin. Her eyes narrowed dangerously in his direction as he pulled his phone out.

‘Don’t,’ she said, ‘I swear Gin I’ll show everyone that video of you snowboarding naked.’ She reached into her pocket and pulled her own phone out, Gins’ face paling instantly. She was already searching through her gallery as it had been a few months back she’d been sent it when she heard Gins panicked voice.

‘Please don’t,’ Gin begged in Irish, obviously to stop Rangiku from hearing anything. ‘Please don’t show her it Rukia, I’ve got a good thing going here.’ He whined and Renji snorted into his drink. ‘Please don’t let my naked ass ruin it.’

‘You have a nice naked ass,’ Rukia said but she was locking her phone and slipping it back into her pocket.

‘Oh my god,’ Renji replied in English, ‘never have I ever been fucking trilingual.’

Gin and Rukia both took a drink hesitantly eyeing each other up from across the table.

‘I’m bilingual?’ the dark haired sister said from Toshiro’s side and Rukia turned to watch the girl with interest wondering what language it was she knew.

‘I thought you were just bi,’ Ichigo said and Rukia smirked at the comment because actually if she were bi that would have been quite funny. It was an interesting dynamic of a family, if she was bi or even gay and so was Ichigo, discussions and teasing must flow freely in their house. 

The girl said something in German back to Ichigo but it didn’t sound friendly and Rukia watched as Toshiro wrapped an arm around his sister and pulled her into his side. The two of them seemed close, she noted watching the tender expression with which Toshiro looked at her. The way the frown in his brow wrinkled in care.

‘Oh I have good one!’ Rangiku suddenly exclaimed and Rukia looked at her with amusement because whatever she was about to say was obviously going to be for Toshiro, ‘never have I ever… gotten a girl’s name tattooed on my ass.’

Wait… what? Oh god, he didn’t? Rukia was casting her mind back… she had spotted a small black bit of ink on his ass as he’d walked towards the shower, that must have been what Rangiku was referring too, the thought confirmed as he reached across and took a little sip of his drink. Rukia’s mouth fell open and Gin laughed noisily along with Renji.

‘Wait whose name is it?’ Soi Fon asked the question that Rukia had desperately wanted to ask as well. It must have been an ex… maybe he’d been engaged or married before? Who knew?

‘No one special,’ he replied and Rukia watched as the small snowboarder fired a glare at Rangiku in response to the question.

‘Daisy?’ Yuzu asked, clearly his family were not in the know about this mysterious tattoo of his. Rukia wished she’d had a chance to actually see it because she’d have happily called it out right now. Gin clocked eyes with her across the table, asking the silent question and she shrugged, mouthing her uncertainty.

‘Not Daisy,’ Toshiro groaned, and Rukia suddenly remembered why that name rung a bell, it was the name of the dog she’d often seen him posing with on his instagram. That’d have made sense, but apparently it wasn’t Daisy.

‘Please don’t tell me it was Mo-’ the dark haired twin started and Toshiro quickly cut her off before she could finish.

_Interesting._

Rukia watched as Toshiro quickly tried to change the topic, firing a question of his own out, one intended only for Rangiku.

‘Never have I ever been mistaken for Geri Halliwell.’ He said and Rangiku grinned and took a sip of her drink. That was even more interesting, Rukia clocked Gin from across the table, she knew how he felt about Ginger Spice and he was a massive Spice Girls fan. Not that he told anyone that of course, it was mostly on a “best friends’ needs to know” basis.

‘I went as Ginger Spice to a themed party,’ Rangiku explained brightly, ‘people thought I was really her, asked for autographs and everything.’ Gin was staring at Rangiku with his mouth hanging open… Rukia could only _imagine_ the thoughts scrolling through his mind right now.

“Never have I ever cried at how big a spider was,” Rukia went next, wanting to draw the attention to Gin who drank with an eye roll.

Gin wasn’t the only one to drink though, it seemed everyone bar Toshiro took a sip and when Rukia spared a glance in his direction he was grinning like he either enjoyed their misery or enjoyed being able to help them. The later made a lot more sense to the little personality that Rukia had picked up from him.

‘Oh!’ Rangiku suddenly cried clearly excited. Rukia leaned forward eagerly in her seat ready to learn another embarrassing fact about Toshiro as the alcohol started to interfere with her thought process. ‘Never have I ever gotten a virus on my computer from watching lesbian porn.’ She said and Rukia laughed hard, glancing expectantly at Toshiro while his sister drank beside him. Toshiro’s face was furrowed in confusion instead of embarrassment. The little look of concentration adorned there was absolutely adorable.

‘That was you, Ran,’ he finally chuckled after a moment, clearly remembering the incident, ‘but you used my computer and I almost lost all my assignments.’

‘Oh fuck,’ Rangiku replied with a groan, Rukia shifted her focus to the tall strawberry blonde whose face had gone bright red and she took a sip of her drink causing Gin and Rukia to laugh heartily at her. ‘I just wanted to know how it worked.’

Rukia could actually see Rangiku easily doing something like that, the thought was quite hilarious…

‘I coulda shown you that, Babe,’ the dark haired twin said and Rukia pursed her lips in amusement, her earlier assumptions of the girl being either bi or gay confirmed.

‘Never have I ever had a crush on Rangiku,’ Renji supplied with a grin in the woman’s direction. Maybe it was a chivalrous move on his part to try and take the heat from the moment.

It was very obvious before he did that Gin was going to drink. He tried to do it as inconspicuously as possible while Soi Fon knocked back some of her drink.

Deciding just to be a bit of a tease, Rukia took a drink too sending a playful wink in Rangiku’s direction over the top of Toshiro’s head as she did so. She didn’t really have a crush on Rangiku but for all the times over the last couple of days she’d thought about the woman’s body it seemed worth a sip of alcohol at least.

‘Never have ah ever gone tae the emergency room due tae ah sexual encounter,’ Gin threw at her with a mixture of upset and hurt in his voice, likely at Rukia’s open flirting with Rangiku. Almost choking on the first sip she’d taken as a joke she coughed a little, feeling heat rising in her cheeks as she glared at her best friend across the table.

He had promised never to bring that up again! Gin had to drive her to the emergency room due to an issue involving a butt plug, so he knew all about it. Rukia took another sip and of course this one was so obscure she was the only one to do so.

Rukia felt a little hot around the collar and could feel so many pairs of eyes on her. Her brain quickly working to try and come up with the next Never have I Ever just so that she could take the heat off herself but Renji wasn’t letting that one go.

‘I think we all need to hear the story of that one,’ he asked and Rukia quickly glared at him across the table.

‘Yeah even I’m curious now, what the hell happened?’ Soi Fon sounded far too amused at her suffering and Rukia made an exasperated noise at the back of her throat.

‘Nothing,’ Rukia said, refusing to look at the Australian lot… not that she cared what people thought but she did feel oddly embarrassed and shy next to Toshiro and Rangiku. That thought caught her a little off guard, she was shy next to Toshiro because he was unfairly attractive but why she felt shy around Rangiku she wasn’t sure, but likely had something to do with the girls’ celebratory status.

‘Let’s jus’ say Rukia learned the importance eh slowly working up butt plug sizes,’ Gin smirked and Rukia died. Thank god for the alcohol because she would have just sunk under the table and hid from view without the liquid courage coursing through her veins. Mind you… maybe Toshiro would have fled from the scene if she did, given what had happened earlier. Renji was laughing as were a few others. Only when Rukia turned to Gin with a look of total betrayal on her face did someone come to her aid.

‘Never have I ever gotten aroused watching Rukia skate.’ Soi Fon said, clearly trying to help a sister out.

Rukia could feel the heat still high in her cheekbones but hoped that the teams would just assume that it was the alcohol doing it. Everyone else around the table had a similar flush of alcohol in their cheeks anyway. Gin was the first to drink to Soi Fon’s statement which came as no surprise at all to Rukia after he’d admitted it before. She knew exactly what performance it was as well, her Maneater Gala performance. The thing about a Gala performance, it was a lot more relaxed, just skaters having fun after a massive competition. It meant that no jumps were required, the skater could skate a routine however they wished and Rukia may have gone a little too sexual on the ice to piss off one of the older male judges who marked her harshly that season.

Her thoughts were interrupted though as Toshiro took a sip of his drink and for the first time in a while her eyes snapped to him. He’d gotten aroused? When? He mentioned that he’d come and watched her skate today, was it today? Was that what Rangiku had meant by him “really enjoying” her performance? Rukia really wanted to ask but also didn’t want to single him out and embarrass him, she wanted to know privately. Rukia watched the way his teal coloured eyes focused on his drink and the way his sister was curled up against him. It was ridiculous that someone could be so good at so many things, including being a great big brother and still be single.

Maybe it had something to do with that ‘Mo’ name that the dark haired girl had been about to shout out earlier… either way there was a story there and Rukia was intrigued. Rukia actually found herself hoping he won his halfpipe event just so she could go on this date with him.

‘Never have I ever had sex in the shower,’ Renji said with a smirk grinning at Ichigo as the tall red head took a long drink. Gin and Soi Fon also took a drink and Rukia blinked in surprise… something she actually hadn’t done… it did seem like an odd place for a one night stand though, showers were rather intimate places.

It made her feel a little better to note that a couple of the Aussies didn’t drink either, including Toshiro. She could feel her muddled alcoholic brain trying to work that one out. He seemed like the kind of guy to dote on another human being if how he treated his sisters was anything to go by, so it was almost surprising that he hadn’t done something as intimate as shower sex.

‘Never have I ever been the host for a body shot,’ Soi Fon said next, the girl was clearly on a roll tonight and Rukia snorted as she took a deep drink. Rukia had done that of course, Gin smirked at her from across the table since he’d been present that night, it had been at her place following the last Olympics where she’d decided to continue the party for a few more evenings, inviting her burlesque girls to join her.

Rukia watched as several of the Aussies took drinks including Toshiro and tried her best not to picture it. Sometimes she was thankful she was female because she was pretty sure if she were a guy she’d be showing physical signs of arousal at the thought… his abs were just so perfect. She’d have happily licked the liquid directly from his skin, if it had been tequila, she’d easily have followed it up by just straight up sucking on his neck for the salty-ness of his skin then prayed someone would have put the lemon slice in his mouth to finish.

Fuck, Rukia jerked back and glared down at the alcoholic drink, just how much alcohol had been put in the drinks anyway? Normally she wasn’t this lubricious, but as her gaze slid over to Gin she could tell he was having a similar internal struggle as he snuck glances at Rangiku.

‘Never have I ever been stopped at the airport for having too many sex toys in my bag,’ Renji said and the Irish lot burst into fits of uncontrollable laughter… all except Soi Fon who glared at Renji as she drunk. Rukia was practically doubled over, the event had been one of the funniest things she’d seen from the evil prankster Renji.

‘Dare I ask?’ Toshiro chuckled after he and a few of the Aussie lot were done laughing, perhaps it was the alcohol that had her flirting but once she’d recovered a little more she slid across the table to the face him, her hand propped on her elbow.

‘Well,’ Rukia started loud enough for everyone else to hear but her eyes locked onto Toshiro’s, vivid memories from the evening before flashing back as she noted how dark his eyes were in the rubbish lighting of the bar. ‘Renji is a bit of a prankster, so he filled a spare Irish bag full of sex toys and managed to swap it with Soi Fons at the airport… so naturally when she went through security we all had a good giggle.’

‘It wasn’t that funny,’ Soi Fon huffed and Renji shot her a look. Rukia leaned away from Toshiro and gave him a quick wink.

Toshiro was leaning forward toward her and Rukia was more than a little smug at the fact. It was very clear despite the fact that they’d both already slept together there was still a heavy tingle of sexual tension in the air between them. She hoped they got the chance to explore it more, likely after this illustrious date he’d promised to take her on following the qualifying of his heat. She had a moment of doubt; what if he didn’t? But quickly shook that thought from her mind; he’d nail it. She’d stalk videos of his previous competitions that night if she wasn’t too drunk to see just how good he was.

‘Never have I ever taken a shower selfie,’ Gin said and Soi Fon and Rukia drunk, smirking at each other before high fiving across the table. Sometimes she loved being a woman, they got away with so much teasing and in provocative ways that guys often didn’t. Rangiku also took a drink and glanced around for someone to high five. Grinning broadly Rukia did her best to raise her position in her seat to reach her. Rangiku was elated and squealed in delight as she high fived Rukia. She slotted herself back down into her seat grinning wickedly at the attractive Australian woman.

‘Never have I ever had sex in a nightclub bathroom,’ the dark haired twin asked and all shit hit the fan, with what was very obviously a simple statement. Rukia watched as Toshiro’s eyes went wide and followed his gaze to his blonde sister who had taken a drink along with her boyfriend.

‘What?’ Toshiro said, clearly not understanding what he was seeing. There was something about his voice, about the way he said it with mixture of confusion and dread that had Rukia cringing a little at the revelation. Clearly he had no idea that his sister was _that_ kind of girl.

‘What the fuck!’ Ichigo rose quickly from the table his glare fixed on the red haired boyfriend, while Yuzu shouted on her brother to calm down.

‘What?’ Toshiro asked again, still clearly refusing to let the situation sink in as Rukia exchanged concerned glances with Gin who looked equally confused at the confrontation. When Rukia turned back, Toshiro was gazing at Rangiku who was looking at him with concern.

‘Jinta, I’m going to fucking kill you!’ Ichigo snapped, looking like he wanted to crawl over the table to get to the boyfriend. So the boyfriends name was Jinta? Rukia took a mental note and hoped she’d remember it.

‘Welp, better go then,’ Jinta said quickly, looking a little white as he jumped over the back of the booth and ran towards the exit, leaving his poor girlfriend behind to deal with the consequences. Even Gin looked a little annoyed at the action, how chivalrous of him?

‘Ichigo, please stop!’ Yuzu had her hands firmly placed on Ichigo’s shoulders now trying to push him back into his seat, but she had to reach up to even be level with him and the strawberry blond didn’t look like he cared at all for his sisters restraints.

‘Damn Yuu,’ the dark haired twin slurred, her laughter being the only real relief the Irish lot had from the drama unfolding… somehow Soi Fon had managed to slip away and Rukia gazed around for the girl as she heard Toshiro’s sister say something else.

‘What?!’ Toshiro’s voice had changed now and he was actually shaking his sister, the German speaking girl ignoring him.

‘It was one time, Ichigo,’ Yuzu sounded like she was about to cry. ‘Surely you knew I wasn’t a virgin anymore. I’m nineteen, and Jinta and I have been dating for over two years now. I’ll be twenty soon! I am an adult and I can have sex if I want to!’

‘No,’ Toshiro said simply, and Rukia pursed her lips… oh… he didn’t think his nineteen year old sister had had sex _at all_. That’s what was going on… he thought she was still innocent? Rukia turned to Gin, her pursed lips making him snort into his drink as he took a sip to cover it while the drama continued to unfold around them.

‘I am going to kill him, Yuzu,’ Ichigo practically spat, ‘let go!’ He easily twisted from her grasp and leapt over the back of the booth and bolted after Jinta. A beats silence passed with everyone staring after the tall strawberry before Yuzu started crying. Rukia turned to watch her, eyes full of pity because she knew what it was like to have an overbearing big brother.

‘Bub,’ Rangiku called softly clicking her fingers in front of Toshiro’s face… that was the second time tonight that Rangiku had called him that. It must have been a nick name of sorts if a little bit of a childish one. ‘Bub, look at me.’ He seemed to be staring off into space and Rukia quickly slid across Ichigo’s space and closer to Gin.

‘What do we do?’ Rukia hissed while Rangiku tried to get through to Toshiro.

‘Ah dinnae ken, this is awkward as fuck,’ Gin mumbled back to her. They were totally caught in the middle of a family drama and now Toshiro was being lifted by his collar by Rangiku so she could stare into his eyes.

‘Jesus an’ ah thought the English were dramatic,’ Gin frowned watching the scene. Rukia would have been laughing and teasing Toshiro for it all if it didn’t seem inappropriate to do so… next to being called “Bub” and having been lifted to a normal guy size by a woman, he was the perfect target for some Irish grilling but she wasn’t completely heartless. This wasn’t the time.

They watched as Toshiro finally went to comfort his crying sister meanwhile Renji was sat on his phone playing a game and Rukia kicked him under the table.

‘What?’ he glared at her.

‘Go after him,’ Rukia scowled at him.

‘Who?’

‘Rudolf… who the fuck do you think?’ she scowled, ‘your boyfriend is about to be done for murder go and stop him.’

‘She’s richt,’ Gin said turning to look at Renji, ‘you’re likely the only yin who can talk some sense intae him.’

With a deep sigh Renji rose from his seat and made his way out the bar, phone pressed into his ear as he tried to call his boyfriend. At least they’d done something constructive to try and aid the situation, but now with Soi Fon gone the friends felt even more like they were intruding in a private family matter.

‘We should go,’ Gin mumbled, clearly thinking the same thing.

‘I need to say something,’ Rukia frowned, ‘she looks up to me, I can’t just leave without saying something.’

‘True,’ Gin replied looking at her, ‘so what are yeh gonnae say?’

‘I don’t know,’ Rukia turned her pleading big eyes on him, ‘you’re good at this kind of thing, help me.’

Gin smirked and offered her some advice and the two soon stood to leave, jumping gracefully over the back of the booth so as to not disturb the family moment by asking them to stand so they could get out. Gin gave Rukia an encouraging nod and she hesitated for a second before stepping closer to Toshiro and Yuzu, clearing her throat.

When the blonde girl turned her tear stained gaze on her Rukia looked at her sympathetically.

‘I know what it’s like to have to suffer through overbearing big brothers,’ Rukia rolled her eyes away from Toshiro, this moment wasn’t for him. It was for Yuzu. ‘They’ll come around because they love you and whether they like it or not you’re an adult and can make your own decisions. Eventually you’ll look back at this and laugh at how unreasonable they both were and you’ll be able to make sure they never live it down or forget it,’ she hesitated and offered her a kind and only slightly drunk grin, ‘keep having fun in whatever safe way you see fit, and don’t worry about your boyfriend, Renji has gone to save him.’

‘Thanks,’ Yuzu gave her a watery smile before chuckling and patting Toshiro’s arm, ‘they’re not all so bad.’

Rukia watched as Toshiro kissed the top of Yuzu’s head in response and Rukia smiled longingly at the notion. It had been years since she’d had that kind of affection from anyone other than Gin and even then he usually kept a certain amount of distance between them.

‘Yeah nah Toshi is da best,’ the dark haired girl said as she tried to climb over the booth, clearly very far along in her state of intoxication and Toshiro reached out a hand to steady her while Rangiku appeared from nowhere.

‘Karin, Babe, come on,’ the strawberry blonde woman chuckled and Rukia tried to make a mental note of the name. ‘I’m going to take you back to your room now.’

‘Oh gurl,’ Karin’s voice had changed, she was now openly flirting with the blonde woman and Rukia pursed her lips at Toshiro’s slightly mortified expression. ‘You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that.’ Rangiku took it all in good fun though, grinning at the smaller girl before pulling her into her side and turning back towards Toshiro.

‘You’ll be alright?’ Rangiku asked and he nodded. Then she turned to Gin and offered him a small smile, ‘I’ll see you later then?’

‘Aye,’ Gin positively beamed at her, ‘course you will.’

Rukia’s eyebrows shot into her hairline… she’d been missing very important things here… that had sounded more like a promise and she’d not seen Gin look so happy in years, not since he’d broke up with his ex. Rukia decided to make a mental note to try and find out as much as she could about Rangiku. Gin wasn’t normally one for sleeping around, he grew attached very easily and lord only knows the heartbreak after this if things with Rangiku didn’t go to plan. She winced a little at the thought… she’d do anything she could do to try and help the two get together, as his best friend and his wingman. Rukia studied his face for a moment as he watched Rangiku tow a drunken Karin alongside her.

His expression was longing, wishful, any and all adjectives that allowed Rukia to note he was already very easily developing feelings for the other woman.

Rukia sighed. She was going to have her work cut out for her.

‘So,’ Rukia said as she turned back towards Toshiro, wanting to confirm their plans for the next day. She realised that actually there was a lot she could learn about him and Rangiku if she could crack him open a little. Certainly there had been a lot of things he’d taken drinks for that she wanted to know, the tattoo for one thing. ‘That bet?’ she started her enquiry, ‘I want to raise the stakes.’ She watched the adorable questioning look flit across his face while his arms still held his not-so-baby baby sister. ‘If I come first at the end of the free skate heat,’ she started, ‘you have to agree to tell me something personal about yourself and be prepared to answer a couple of personal questions.’ She smirked down at him, ‘deal?’

‘Deal,’ Toshiro smirked, ‘keep your Instagram messages open, I will be messaging you when I win my heat.’

Rukia smirked back at him. He was definitely confident and she found that side of him a fairly sexy. His smirk lit up his whole face in a mischievous way that just _did_ things to her. She turned towards Gin and nodded towards the exit.

‘Let’s go lover boy,’ Rukia chuckled and Gin followed behind her as dutifully as a puppy.

The two of them made their way out of the bar and into the harsh freezing evening. The dark haired security guard waved them off and Rukia smirked at him as they wandered away.

‘So,’ Gin said with an air of a detective about to grill a guilty man, ‘ah date?’

‘Calm your ham,’ she rolled her eyes, ‘it’s only if he comes first in his slopestyle heat. It’s a bet, not a date.’

‘An’ yet you figured you’d raise the stakes?’ Gin asked innocently.

‘Well you never know,’ Rukia sighed, she really didn’t want to be talking about this right now.

‘Dae you want him tae win the date?’ he asked curiously.

She winced because she did but felt like to admit that was to admit defeat. Like Rukia was admitting that Rangiku and Gin were justified in their actions all evening and goodness only knows the chaos that would ensue if they believed that.

‘I kind of do,’ she sighed deciding on part of the truth, ‘I’d like to find out half the answers to the questions he drunk for tonight.’

‘Wha’ yer sayin’ is,’ Gin said with an amused chuckle as he held the hotel door open for her to walk into, ‘is tha’ he’s interesting and much more than just a big dick?’

‘But what a delicious dick it is,’ she started knowing fine well there was one good way to end this conversation, ‘dragging against my-’

‘Aye okay lass,’ he replied quickly, ‘ah get it, yeh got laid, nae need tae rub mah face in it.’

Rukia laughed at his misery and they got out of the elevator on the same floor. She bid him goodnight at her room.

Tomorrow was going to be a very interesting day and Rukia was actually looking forward to it a lot more than she’d ever thought possible.

\---

**@IrishLass101  
** _OMG_ **_@RukiaFansOfficial_ ** _THANK YOU MY QUEEN FOR SHARING THESE IMAGES!!!!!! (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (heart eyes)_

**@RukiasGr8estFan** _  
OMG! Who is the white haired guy (heart eyes) and where can I get me one?_

**@Toshiupdates _  
@RukiasGr8estFan_** _That’s Toshiro Shiba he’s a snowboarder from Australia! (grin) (grin)_

**@RukiasGr8estFan** _  
**@Toshiupdates** thanks for the updates (wink) he’s gorg but I know Rukia this will be a one night thing for her! Unless they become pals like Gin & Rukia did_

**@IrishLass101  
** _You never know, THIS COULD BE THE START OF SOMETHING NEW~_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice**   
_I still ship GinRuki sorry all, the Aussie kid is cute but he’s got nothing over my tall Scottish broadsword if you get my drift ;)_

**@IrishLass101  
** _IT FEELS SO RIGHT TO BE HERE WITH YOU!~_

**@RukiasGr8estFan** _  
GUYS Check out **@RukiaFansOfficial** other pictures! There’s Gin & Rangiku and Ichigo & Renji singing together!!!! NEW HASHTAG BORN #IreAussie #YASSS_

**@IrishLass101  
** _AND NOW LOOKING IN YOUR EYES ~_

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
 _@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice_** _can you fill me in on this Gin guy??? He better be good for my girl (heart eyes) (heart eyes)_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice**   
**_@RanRoxyQueen29_ ** _he’s just a bucket load of fun and not a bad bone in his body!! Check his Instagram @ **GinIchimaruSB**_

**@IrishLass101  
** _I FEEL IN MY HEART~_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice**   
_@IrishLass101 OMG give it a rest gurl (laughing) (laughing) (laughing)_

**@Toshiupdates _  
_**_THE START OF SOMETHING NEW! #IreAussie #RukiShiro #GinRan_

**@IrishLass101  
 _@Toshiupdates_** _(heart eyes) (heart eyes) (kiss) (kiss) (kiss) (heart eyes) (sparkly heart)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A massive thanks for reading this far!!! If you've made it to the end of this beast of a chapter then leave us a comment to let us know you survived and a kudos too hahaha would love to hear from you :D


	4. Who the HECK does this for a first date?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> that her body did that. It made her feel even less in control and uncomfortable.  
> ‘Thank you,’ she mumbled back because she didn’t even know what else to say? ‘So where are we going then?’ she really did want to know. Though she was curious she hoped whatever he had planned wouldn’t take too long before she could get him back to his room and throw that expensive looking jacket of his on the floor.  
> ‘You’ll see,’ he said with a playful smile as he nodded back in the direction of the entrance. He placed a light hand on the lower part of her back to guide her in the direction they were to be walking and she went willingly with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember if you want the full story it's best to read this alongside Geishaaa's fic who is writing the same story from Toshiro's PoV :D

__

Rukia had forgotten to look up his schedule the evening before, and completely forgot about stalking videos when she’d got into her hotel room. The alcohol had taken full effect and she’d crashed the moment she lay down on her bed. The next morning was a bit of a panicked rush, due to some organisational circumstances the ice dancers were going first that morning, meaning that Rukia had a few extra hours to spare, which was perfect. She guzzled her water as she made her way to the rink, ignoring her brother to the best of her ability. Gin wouldn’t be at the rink today, he had some practice time on the slopes and was going to be using it wisely, Rukia just hoped that her friend was suffering due to his alcohol consumption considering what he’d put her through yesterday.

She made sure to text him that as a good morning message when she woke up too.

‘Why are you looking at your phone?’ Byakuya scowled beside her, she’d not put the tiny device to rest since she’d left the hotel and she didn’t plan to either. She pulled up multiple tabs and searched for a number of Toshiro’s competitions, the results were many and she’d taken to watching quite a number of them.

He was impressive. She’d always loved snowboarding outside her own sport because of Gin but also just how cool snowboarders appeared. They were like the rebel gang next to the posh skiers. They even fell with grace, which she noted as she watched more videos. When skiers fell it was a tangle of awkward limbs and giant sticks but the snowboarders just ended up on their backs and half the time bounded up looking like they’d done nothing more than slid down a children’s slide.

Toshiro seemed to radiate style, he was often seen with Rangiku who had the same effect as well, snow goggles hanging off their necks, baggy winter uniforms of correlating colours clearly issued by Quiksilver and Roxy. Toshiro’s board apparently had a dragon on it too, when Rukia clocked the underside of it during one run of a previous slope style event, then took to Googling info on it. The information on news sources was limited, but it did eventually bring up an old image on his Instagram of a sketch done by a surfer champion called Yukio. It seemed the two were friends, the more images that Rukia stalked through the more she saw the two of them together.

She wasn’t able to put her headphones in and listen to the commentary on the videos until she was inside the changing rooms and away from her brothers overbearing disapproval. She put on a video of one of his most recent wins, at the X Games which was a big competition for the snowboarders and turned the volume up listening to the commentary. It certainly seemed that the half pipe was his favourite, even the commentator made note of that. Rukia also found out that Toshiro was two years younger than herself, not that it mattered too much. She’d never really thought of age as an issue as long as they were older than twenty one.

She watched intently the tiny screen on her device as Toshiro flipped and twisted his way effortlessly through the air, landing perfectly in that awkward pipe, it reminded her of skateboarders she’d seen and the half bowels they usually used for their sports.

Toshiro had taken gold by a margin enough to make Rukia believe that this date was most definitely going to be won, and as she watched Toshiro grinning broadly on the screen, clearly thrilled with his performance, she realised that that she _had_ to win her heat.

Dates were intimate circumstances she’d never found herself in before, but she knew they involved a lot of talking about oneself. Something she was absolutely not comfortable with in the slightest, she cringed at the thought, she wasn’t good with words. Though it was likely the night would end exactly how she’d want it too, they’d have to get to that point and that would mean finding out about each other. A smirk twitched at her lips as she pulled her headphones from her ears, of course if she won her heat then in accordance to her bet, he had to be the one to open up to her and answer her questions, it would make it easy to deflect the conversation away from herself and to be honest? She was genuinely curious about him. He had to have some kind of flaw and she’d find it.

The beanies could arguably be a flaw.

Other than that he seemed too perfect.

‘Good morning Rukia,’ Isane greeted her, Kiy bounding excitably by her side.

‘Good morning,’ Rukia replied to them with a grin, before it slid a little from her face, ‘how are you feeling Isane?’

The taller woman shrugged a little and Rukia could see the dark marks under her eyes. She was always a skater who let her emotions show on the ice, when she was relaxed she was flawless and her routines beautifully polished, but when she was suffering emotionally everyone knew about it.

‘Okay,’ she mumbled and Rukia resisted shaking the woman. There was nothing more frustrating than watching someone else suffer with emotions you could override in yourself. Rukia sighed and stood up, her height barely making a difference and noticed the way that Isane recoiled from the noise as the Russians entered the room. Rukia ignored them, eyes only for her friends.

‘You need a distraction,’ she said and Isane nodded, distractions were always good but there wasn’t much that they could do here that could distract her. ‘Will we go and stretch together somewhere more private?’ Rukia said finally as the noise from the Russian side grew and grew, as if they could sense the Japanese girls discomfort and were trying to make things more difficult.

‘Us stretch with you?’ Kiy asked, practically vibrating with excitement as Rukia picked up her things and smirked at the girl.

They made their way outside the changing rooms, thankfully Byakuya was gone and found a quiet corner where they could settle themselves down on their mats and began to lightly stretch while talking about anything and everything else. Rukia found as the conversation continued the best way to distract her was to have her talk about Japan.

‘They have these glass boots, with green bubbling pop in them topped with ice cream,’ she reminisced gazing off into the distance, ‘obviously it isn’t part of our diet but I’ve been promised if I do well enough in competitions I’ll be allowed one.’ It was probably the most Rukia had ever heard the usually reserved Japanese woman say. Her smile was wistful and Rukia studied her face from her place on her own mat.

‘It was the perfect distraction,’ Isane said finally obviously understanding exactly what Rukia was doing.

‘If you want to distract her further,’ Kiy said leaning forward, in a way that made Rukia believe she was about to ask something very inappropriate.

‘Kiy,’ Isane warned, her tone wavering like she knew what the younger girl was about to say.

‘You could tell us who the short guy was you were karaoke-ing with last night,’ she put her chin on her hand and grinned at her. Rukia instantly felt heat rise in her cheeks, once again without her conscious thought, she cleared her throat.

‘Oh it was just some guy,’ she muttered.

‘I heard from Maki who heard from the Russian girl Valery who heard from Jane from America who was told by Phichit from Thailand that it was the same guy you kissed the night of the opening ceremonies,’ she said in one giant breath.

‘Kiy,’ Isane warned her sister more sternly this time, ‘we don’t gossip.’

‘I wasn’t,’ the young girl whined leaning back on her mat, ‘I was just asking.’

Rukia cleared her throat, still feeling the burning in her cheeks and spluttered an incoherent response. What was she even meant to say back to something like that? She should be just laughing it off, waving it off like she would any one of her other conquests. Thankfully she was saved by Isane, the older girl noticing Rukia’s discomfort and coming to her aid despite the uptick of her own brow in curiosity.

‘Kiy, what have I told you about Maki? Sometimes Maki likes to over exaggerate, you know that,’ she sighed.

‘I know, but I just wanted to hear it from Rukia,’ she huffed and Rukia rolled her eyes.

‘Nothing is happening,’ she replied finally, having been given a chance to calm down enough to respond, ‘he was just some random guy, you’re old enough to know about my reputation by now.’ She smirked at her and Kiy sighed.

‘I know,’ she looked a little disappointed and Rukia was taken aback by the look on her face, ‘I just thought it would be super cool if you met someone here you know? I don’t like what people say about you online and it would put all those rumours to rest. Plus I saw him and he was super cute, from what I could make out.’ She grinned broadly at this and Rukia relaxed, she had to remind herself that Kiy was young and a big fan of hers.

‘Thanks Kiy,’ she smirked, ‘if I ever do decide to change, I promise you’ll find out personally from me.’

‘You mean it?’ she asked, her dark eyes sparkling as she gazed at Rukia.

‘Of course,’ she chuckled.

‘Who was he anyway?’ Isane chirped in now, clearly her curiosity getting the better of her and Rukia had to refrain from rolling her eyes. Then a new feeling was stirring, one she’d never really felt before, she wanted to show him off. Before she could even contemplate it properly she was pulling her phone from her pocket and bringing up his last winning performance, flashing the screen over to the two girls who watched.

‘Oh a snowboarder,’ Isane said, her eyes sliding slyly up to Rukia’s and a knowing smile gracing her lips, ‘nice.’

‘Yeah,’ Rukia grinned, feeling a little giddy just talking about it, ‘he’s almost as good in the bedroom as he is at snowboarding.’

That earned her a scandalised look from Isane and a laugh from Kiy as the three girls’ watched Toshiro rip through the air, spinning effortlessly like he wasn’t flying metres from the ground. The back of his jacket riding up, revealing that beautiful white skin pulled over tight muscles and Rukia found herself genuinely wondering about his heat that day. When the video came to an end the two sisters were quickly chatting away about how amazing it would be to have a boyfriend into sports just as much as they were. Rukia pulled up his schedule and saw that his heat final was just before she’d be due out on the ice to perform her free skate. She debated for a while telling the sisters about the date but a bubble of nervous butterflies in her stomach stopped her.

What if he didn’t win his heat? She frowned, her brows pulling together as she stared down at the grainy live feed on her phone. Did she really care? Would it make her seem to callous to just care about a title of some kind and take a leave from the situation? She didn’t care much for medals or titles or the likes, it wasn’t exactly what she searched for when she searched for a partner to spend the evening with, why should Toshiro be any different?

Maybe if he failed, instead of a date they could just skip right to what would be happening at the end of the date anyway, which was the two of them being locked in a bedroom together, two bodies sliding together into one. The thought sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine.

Maybe that was a conversation worth having over Instagram DM if he did lose? She shrugged her shoulders and pocketed her phone while a set of footsteps announced the arrival of the coaches. Kiy’s coach was called Miyako and Rukia got on with the woman on a personal level when they all trained together.

‘Kiyone,’ she called softly as she approached, ‘it’s time,’ she offered the girl a smile and the young skater stood up taking a deep breath before waving and walking off. Byakuya had already turned one of the spare TV’s on and twisted it in their direction so they could watch the performance while lazily stretching out. Isane was a bundle of nervous energy and Rukia could feel it, she wished she could do something better to comfort the girl but emotions had never been Rukia’s strong point.

Kiyone proved that she didn’t require her sisters fretting. She was carefree and graceful, her performance to a Braveheart soundtrack medley earning her a standing ovation from the audience and her best ever score. She was over the moon, panting and grinning at the camera and Rukia couldn’t believe the difference in the two sisters.

Then she remembered Toshiro’s two sisters, Karin and Yuzu and how different they were. Rukia had been so much like her sister, both in terms of looks and personality, the thought alone sent a searing hot flash of pain directly through Rukia’s chest and she clutched at the fabric of her team jacket.

‘Are you okay?’ Isane asked, having noticed the movement, but Rukia’s eyes didn’t leave the television as she pushed the feelings down deep.

‘Yeah,’ she plastered a grin on her face even though she didn’t feel like smiling, ‘just really proud of her.’

‘Me too,’ Isane beamed back.

Kiy came off the ice covered in sweat and ecstatic, a feeling that was reflected in her sister and Rukia just hoped that Isane could drink it in long enough for her own performance.

Finally their group was called and Rukia held a hand out for the other Japanese girl who looked at it like she wanted to throw up.

‘Come on Isane,’ she said, trying her best not to muddle the Japanese with her thick Irish accent and proving unsuccessful as the Japanese girl laughed before taking her hand. Rukia tugged her gently to her feet, quite an accomplishment given the size difference. ‘We’ve got an audience to seduce.’

‘Maybe you do,’ she laughed as the two of them walked toward the ice, coaches in tow behind them carrying their water bottles and tissues, ‘but the only thing I’ll be seducing is the Russians easy second place.’ She mumbled miserably.

‘Don’t say that,’ Rukia shook her head as she watched the three Russian girls ahead of them, ‘it’s you and me.’

They made their way out onto the ice and their six minute warm up started, Rukia took her team jacket off this time, mirroring Isane who wore colours reminiscent of her country in red and white. She looked so graceful and despite her words, seemed a little more relaxed during warm ups. She didn’t attempt any of her big jumps and Rukia kept an eye on her while she took to doing a basic warm up herself.

The time slipped by in a rush and Rukia was soon exiting the ice, glancing back at Isane who had circled around to speak to her coach. She made eye contact with her and gave her a quick thumbs up before slipping through the back to watch on the same TV as Kiy.

‘She seems a lot more relaxed,’ Byakuya said, mirroring exactly what Rukia had thought, ‘she should do much better than she did yesterday.’

‘I hope so,’ Rukia sighed and felt a comforting hand being placed on his shoulder for a moment, then his eyes were peering down at his phone and he frowned.

‘I’ll be right back,’ he wandered off to take the call, leaving Rukia’s things on a chair close to the TV. Curious about the call but more worried for her friend, Rukia stood beside Kiy and the two watched the screen intently, ignoring the jabs from the Russians behind them.

‘She’s going to do it,’ Rukia said when one of the Russian girls made a comment about her not even qualifying, ‘she’s going to qualify and she’s going to be standing next to me on the podium.’

‘I know,’ Kiy nodded her head, ‘she will.’

Isane skated out into the middle of the rink and took up her starting pose as her music started. Piano Concerto No. 5, Rukia knew the music well, it was some of Byakuya’s favourite, though she couldn’t tell what major it was played in. Isane started off soft and slow, her movements graceful and her step sequences gaining her a lot of extra artistry points. Her first jump approached and Rukia and Kiy held their breath, a triple toe double toe combination and she landed it beautifully. A sigh of relief and Rukia was grinning, if she could nail her first jump usually that was enough for Isane to pull a winning performance out of the hat.

She continued to perform, her smile on her face a testament to her newly found courage and confidence, she nailed her next four jumps but stepped out on her double axel. The grade’s of execution deducted weren’t enough though and by the end of her performance Isane had shot herself up into first place.

Rukia and Kiy clapped hard when she came back through, grinning from ear to ear as one of the Russians stalked out after her in the direction of the rink.

‘That was amazing,’ Rukia laughed hugging the older girl who looked a little uncomfortable with the very Western greeting but appreciating it none the less.

‘Thank you,’ she said looking very happy with herself. ‘Now you have to go out there and smash it.’

‘I will,’ Rukia smirked up at her, _I’ve got too much riding on this not too_ , she didn’t say out loud but she did glance around for her brother who still hadn’t come back from his phone call. Trying not to lose her patience, Rukia gritted her teeth, she was about to go and compete in her heat at the Olympics, whatever the call was about it surely wasn’t as important as that? She tapped her foot impatiently and gazed over at the TV screen as the new Russian girl took to the ice.

Only Hiyori managed to score high enough to surpass Isane’s score, a feat that kept the other Russian girls quiet when they returned back through. Rukia was about to be called out to the ice any second now when Byakuya hurried back. He looked harassed and Rukia was sure his eyes looked red, but she couldn’t tell if it were from the cold air outside where he’d clearly gone to take the call given his pink cheeks.

‘What was that?’ she asked suddenly, feeling an anxious weight in her stomach despite not having anything really to fear, it wasn’t like there was anyone back home she had left to worry about.

‘Nothing,’ he said firmly, lifting her things up from the crappy plastic chair and nodding in the direction of the arena, ‘we’re going to be late.’ He said and the two of them quickly slipped through the doors. They misjudged the time as the rink was having some sections filled in after a harsh tumble by one of the previous skaters, Rukia took a moment to pull her phone out of her pocket and refreshed the live stream waiting for it to load as she stood at the side of the rink.

‘Put it away,’ Byakuya said sternly.

‘No,’ she huffed and he quickly glanced down at her screen to see what she watching. Toshiro was starting at the top of the giant slope. It was hard to see any kind of emotion on his face with the giant goggles he had on. All she could see were his rosy lips, which were paler than she remembered and pulled into a concentrating line. Without much thought he was zipping down the slope and Rukia held her breath, he landed his first jump, making it look effortless the way his body twisted in the air. She couldn’t hear the sound from her device and her brother soon lost his patience.

‘Rukia you need to get on the ice,’ he hissed. She sighed and handed him her phone.

‘Don’t lock it,’ she said firmly, ‘I want to know the result of that run.’

‘Why do you care?’ Byakuya looked down at the snowboarder on her screen like a materialistic man may stare down at a bit of used gum.

‘Because if he wins his heat, he wins a date with me,’ she winked at him and turned to face the rink, ignoring her brother’s hissed calls behind her.

She skated a circle into the middle of the ice and took a deep breath, clearing her mind. She hated this routine, but it was only going to be skated for her heat, not for her final performance and she needed to remember that. The open bells of Carmen started and she took off skating.

The technical components of her performance were flawless, as she expected them to be. Her step sequences done with practiced ease and her movements beautifully executed with a grace that she was sure would make even Byakuya jealous. The love, however, for the programme wasn’t there and she knew that the astute judges would pick up on her detest for the programme. It was hard to hold a smile, the emotion on faces often told a story all their own and unfortunately for Rukia hers wasn’t one of love.

When she finished, breathing hard in the middle of the rink as stuffed clovers rained down onto the ice, she took her bows, knowing she’d done more than enough to retain her lead. She made her way back over to the edge of the rink, her brother frowning at her.

‘Your death drop entry into your sit spin caused you poor grades of execution and you looked like babies were being murdered in front of you.’ He huffed at her and then went on the defensive, ‘I thought you loved my programmes.’

‘I did,’ she sighed, ‘I still do, I just don’t want to skate like this anymore. I want to skate the way I love,’ she spoke lowly so that the cameras following them wouldn’t pick up their conversation as she made her way over to the kiss and cry to receive her scores.

Byakuya seemed to be studying her for a moment before he let out a sigh and handed her phone over along with her water bottle.

‘Your snowboard was in first place,’ he said.

Rukia felt a jolt shoot through her spine as she took the device into her hands, despite her panting and exhaustion she ignored the water and glanced down at the tiny screen. It was hard to understand but it seemed there was one guy currently on his run, it didn’t look like a playback. Rukia watched as the guy tried to land what appeared to be a rather difficult jump, and fell. She tried to hold back the grin that threatened her face, turning it into a smirk instead as she watched Toshiro looking shocked before smiling and some guy trying to kiss him. Toshiro just walked away from the kiss, leaving the guy hanging and causing Rukia to laugh a little at the screen. Had that guy been the last snowboarder to go? Had Toshiro won?

She watched the final scores table pop up on the screen, Toshiro’s name and the boisterous Australian flag at the top of the scoreboard.

Well fuck. He’d actually done it.

She blinked down at the device, feeling her brothers gaze on her face, he said nothing though as she tried to process her thoughts. Her mind was spinning and felt like her brain was physically being pulled in so many different directions that she couldn’t settle on a single emotion she felt; excitement, lust, fear, apprehension, need, want, embarrassment, pride, nerves.

Her brother nudged her knee, knocking her from her stupor long enough to glance up and see her own name at the top of her score board. She felt some of the apprehension lift from her shoulders upon seeing it. She’d won by a margin of sixteen points, Hiyori in second place and Isane in third.

At least with this victory, it meant that she was in charge of the conversation, so no matter what the date was, she wouldn’t have to talk about herself. She could prod and probe him the entire time and he’d have to honour it because she’d won it in their bet. She took a deep breath as they stood up and suddenly felt better about the date.

‘So when exactly is this date happening?’ Byakuya asked under his breath seemingly a little annoyed by it.

‘Today, probably,’ she said as she glanced down at the time, it was still early afternoon after all.

‘Alright,’ he said, his hand running down his face like he was stressed about the prospect, ‘just do that boy a favour and stay off you phone. Goodness knows he doesn’t deserve that.’

Rukia glared at her brother before walking into the woman’s changing area without a word. Did he really think she was that antisocial? She’d only be using her phone for communication with him, or maybe Byakuya was worried about her social media posts and dragging Toshiro into her whirlwind of online drama? She sighed as she made her way into the shower area where Isane and Kiy likely were already washing the grime from their own bodies.

Rukia stepped into a shower alone after checking to see if she had any messages in her Instagram inbox from the snowboarder first. There was none, though it was likely that he hadn’t had a chance to message her yet. She stayed in the shower a lot longer than she intended, her bag of shower necessities she’d brought contained everything she needed. As a figure skater she always kept on top of personal grooming, nothing could be more embarrassing than hair on your legs being spotted during a performance or even a shadow of under arm hair. This meant that Rukia was always grooming herself, meticulously.

She got out of the shower feeling a lot healthier than she had when she’d gone in, lifting her phone to check her Instagram DMs and seeing that Toshiro had indeed messaged her;

**@Toshhiba, 12.45pm:  
** _Guess who owes who a date ;)_

She only read the top line of the notification, now wanting to click into it and have it coming up marked as ‘read’ until she was ready to respond. She rolled her eyes though, smile on her face at his opening. He was certainly smug about his win, if the winky face was anything to go by. She packed up her things and exited back out into the changing area where a couple of the female figure skaters were left getting dressed.

‘Rukia,’ Kiy sang happily, her hair looking fresh and her short spikes falling in fluffy ringlets around her face. ‘You were amazing, incredible, I don’t think there’s a word cool enough in the Japanese language to describe how awesome you were,’ she grinned down at her and Rukia smirked.

‘Thanks Kiy,’ she chuckled before turning to Isane and nudging the girl with her elbow, ‘see?’ she said, ‘you made up so many places with a solid free programme, those Russians don’t stand a chance. It’s you and me Isane,’ Rukia said with a smirk, ‘you and me on the podium for sure.’

‘I don’t know,’ she shuffled her feet, ‘I feel like it was a fluke.’

‘You know it wasn’t,’ Rukia rolled her eyes and laughed as she ran her fingers through Kiy’s hair despite the girls protest. The three of them made their way out of the rink and towards their hotel, pausing to part ways in the lobby as Rukia took the elevator to her room. She wasn’t sure where Byakuya had run off too but she was a little pleased to be away from his disapproving stares and comments for a while as she digested the day ahead. She pulled her phone back out as she made her way out of the elevator and in the direction of her room. It was only then that she read the full message he’d actually left her.

**@Toshhiba, 12.45pm:  
** _Guess who owes who a date ;)  
I’ll meet you outside the bar at 4pm. I hope you’re not afraid of heights… xx_

She raised a curious eyebrow down at her phone as her eyes skimmed his message a couple of times. She was enticed now, he had her curiosity spiked and she wondered what the heck could they be doing that involved heights? The two kisses at the end of his sentence had her rolling her eyes a little, that was of course very presumptuous of him but his assumptions would be correct, kisses would be involved. Kisses weren’t something she normally left but she was worried that if she didn’t maybe he’d think that they were off limits during the date so she carefully typed out a response and fired it his way.

**@RukiKuchi, 14.01pm:  
** _Congratulations! I won my heat too which means you’ll have to be ready to answer any questions I ask ;)  
I’m not afraid of heights, but now you’ve got me curious…?  
See you at 4 x_

She had just under two hours to get herself ready and she entered her room upset to find Soi Fon gone… she’d been hoping the woman would do her makeup again, alas it looked like it was up to just Rukia which meant there would be nothing more than a light foundation and a bit of eye liner.

Rukia turned the TV on out of habit, the other Olympic events taking front and centre on the television as she went about getting ready. She spent far too long deciding on what to wear, torn between wanting to be comfortable and wanting to look sexy, a debate women had to fight with on a daily basis. Finally she settled on one of the only dresses she brought, pairing it with a pair of short black shorts on under it. She wasn’t sure what the height thing was he had planned but if she was up high the last thing she wanted was for anyone to see the incredibly sexy lacy underwear she’d put on under her dress for later on that evening.

She dabbled with her makeup, picked up a black leather jacket she knew she’d be freezing in but in the end the urge to look sexy overtook all other logic and she left the hotel regretting her life choices.

She tugged her black choker into place on her neck and quickly checked herself in her phones reflection before the bar came into view. She looked presentable enough in her opinion, besides she wasn’t going to be dressed for long, surely? She’d have him in a room and naked… just hopefully after some food.

She spotted him waiting patiently for her just outside the bar, and bit her lip glancing him up and down before he spotted her. He was in a pair of rather well fitted black jeans, white shirt and a black jacket that made her entire wardrobe look cheap. Everything was fitted beautifully, tight in all the places it should be tight and loose in all the places to leave things to the imagination. Around his neck was a stunning dark teal scarf, contrasting against the black and white colours of his outfit but as she approached him she realised just how much the colour highlighted his teal eyes and white hair.

She could last a couple of hours until she undressed him… maybe? In the meantime she would have to get by with just undressing him with her eyes. It seemed to be the noise of her baby heeled calf high boots that caught his attention, she was pleased to see his eyes travel up and down her, lingering a little longer than she’d expected on her exposed thighs before snapping back up to meet her gaze. He seemed a little lost for words and it made her smirk, that was good. It meant that there was still enough of a physical attraction there that she could play with for the evening.

‘You look beautiful,’ he muttered, eventually. He stepped forward and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek, which had her body reacting in that involuntary way she _hated._ She could feel the heat on her cheeks and didn’t need a mirror to know that they were dusting pink before his very eyes. She hated that her body did that. It made her feel even less in control and uncomfortable.

‘Thank you,’ she mumbled back because she didn’t even know what else to say? ‘So where are we going then?’ she really did want to know. Though she was curious she hoped whatever he had planned wouldn’t take too long before she could get him back to his room and throw that expensive looking jacket of his on the floor.

‘You’ll see,’ he said with a playful smile as he nodded back in the direction of the entrance. He placed a light hand on the lower part of her back to guide her in the direction they were to be walking and she went willingly with him. Curiously she glanced around at all the hurried employees of the village as well as a number of volunteers who were bringing resources and supplied up to the village including food and other such items. What on earth was beyond the back entrance walls of the village that he could possibly want to show her? Her brows furrowed as she thought logically when she spotted a Quiksilver branded van making its way toward them. Toshiro stopped the two of them just as the van made its way over, Rukia looking at it curiously. Toshiro’s brand deal was Quiksilver, she was sure of it? Then it looked like they were hitching a lift to whatever Toshiro had planned. The van pulled up and an older man peeled open the door with a wicked grin on his face. He had long dreadlocks which were tied up, the ends of which hung down loosely from a weird bun, overall he looked… cool.

‘Toshiro, my man!’ he called out in a dimmed American accent, ‘how ya going?’

‘Good,’ Toshiro grinned at him, face alight, recognition there telling Rukia that these two knew each other. He reached out and took the hand offered to him before being pulled into a one armed hug.

Once the two detached, Toshiro stepped away, smile still lighting up his whole face as he turned to face Rukia, ‘Rukia, this is Zeke, he works for the Quiksilver sponsorship and marketing team, he’s going to be our driver for the first part of this afternoon.’

Zeke, he even had a cool ass name. Rukia smiled at him and nodded her head politely.

‘It’s nice to meet you,’ she said.

‘Likewise,’ he grinned back then nudged Toshiro in the ribs, ‘when you said you wanted to bring a “pretty” girl along, I didn’t you meant “absolutely gorgeous”.’

Toshiro laughed uncomfortably, his cheeks going a little red and Rukia smirked at him.

‘I didn’t say that,’ he chuckled.

‘Anyway Rukia, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ Zeke continued with a smile, ‘I won’t be getting in way of your date too much and then I’ll give him back to you, probably unharmed, so you guys can go off and do your own thing.’

That sparked Rukia’s interest… so whatever it was he was doing, she likely wasn’t going to be part of it, by the sounds of things she was thankful. Snowboarders may have been used to throwing themselves into the air meters above the ground but figure skaters weren’t. She launched herself into jumps yes, several feet from the ground and landing on solid ice but there was comfort in the fact that the ground was only a couple of feet below you, not a few metres!

‘Well now I am very curious,’ she muttered and Zeke threw her a wicked grin but let nothing on as he gestured for her to get into the van. There were seats in the back of the decked out van and it was clearly used as a place to carry large pieces of equipment, likely snowboards, skiis and potentially surf boards? If the paint style gave her a clue or the surf board dangling down from the driver mirror. The windows were blacked out and Rukia realised this was actually a very clever way of getting them out of the village without anyone seeing them leave. The last thing they needed was the paparazzi stalking them.

Toshiro climbed in behind her and the two buckled themselves down into the seats for a bumpy ride, the chains on the tyres making the ride less than smooth but stopping the van from skidding all over the place. There was a surfer playlist creating a background ambiance and Zeke gave the two of them a bit of privacy, keeping to himself and humming away as he drove the them out of the village.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t come watch your free skate,’ Toshiro muttered, being the first of them to break the silence, ‘I’ll have to watch the replay later.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Rukia said shaking her head, ‘it was only my Carmen routine.’

To be fair it wasn’t exactly one she wanted him to see. In her eyes it was dull and boring representing the aspects of figure skating that stopped the sport appealing to a much younger and livelier audience.

‘What’s wrong with Carmen?’ he asked tilting his head curiously as his large teal eyes studied her expression. His thick black lashes catching glints of the snow outside and making him look unfairly attractive. She resisted the urge to huff at how unfair it was before responding.

‘It’s just the same old thing I’ve skated to my whole career,’ she rolled her eyes, ‘my brother choreographs the same routines every time and I’m just so bored of it.’ It was probably more information than she’d planned to give him on this date, but she blamed that fact on his unfairly good looks. They’d literally blinded her for a second.

‘I suppose he didn’t choreograph your short programme then?’ Toshiro asked, his tone curious but also with a flavour of his own older sibling care coming into play. Rukia debated for split second making it seem like it had been her brother who had choreographed it because the look on Toshiro’s face would have been worth the little lie. Instead though she just laughed and shook her head.

‘No, that was me, but he’s under the impression Takahashi did.’ She admitted truthfully, watching as Toshiro nodded his understanding. He never asked who Takahashi was so she had to assume that maybe Yuzu had already spoken about him.

‘Well, I’ll still get to watch it at your finals,’ he hummed shifting his position so he could lean back against the seat. She didn’t reply. She could have, she could have told him that she wasn’t going to be skating Carmen but it was odd that he even mention coming to watch her in the finals… he spoke like he wanted whatever this was to last longer than a two night stand.

She decided against saying anything, not wanting to put him off the rest of the day by informing him that this arrangement was just sex. Instead she decided to drag the conversation back towards him because that was the topic they’d be talking about for the rest of the day.

‘Your heat was great today,’ she said, ‘I was worried that Grimmjow guy was going to win before he crashed.’ She recalled the last guy who had gone while she was sitting waiting to get the results of her own free skate. He’d been pulling off moves that looked just as impressive as Toshiro’s had been.

‘So did I,’ Toshiro sighed in response, ‘him crashing was the only reason I won.’

Rukia frowned, her brows coming together in an unhappy greeting as she watched him. His own self-doubt reminded her so much of Isane.

‘No, you could control your tricks but he couldn’t, you won because you were the better snowboarder.’ She told him matter-of-factly. It was true, if Grimmjow had been able to stick his landings better then he would have landed his jump and taken first place in the heat. Toshiro had landed his, the ones that Rukia had managed to see anyway and his landings had always seemed so flawless. The compliment didn’t slip by the astute man though and his pink lips pulled up a tick at the corners that had Rukia huffing a little and sitting back in her seat. She turned away from him so he’d miss the usual feeling of heat dusting her cheeks once again without her permission.

‘Almost there now,’ Zeke said from the front seat and Rukia gazed curiously out the window.

‘So I have to do an extreme activity for a Quiksilver marketing campaign,’ Toshiro told her quickly, as if trying to fill her in before she saw any signs outside, ‘I thought you might want to join me, I think you’re wild enough to do it.’

The compliment made her smirk over her shoulder at him. ‘Oh?’ she asked.

‘That being said, I don’t want you to feel pressured here,’ he continued, ‘you don’t have to do it. Hell, I’m sure I wouldn’t if I wasn’t getting paid for it.’

She was really curious now and her violet eyes searched his beautiful face for an answer. He was giving nothing away though and soon the van was stopping right in front of a sign.

‘Skydive Switzerland’

‘Fuck yes,’ she laughed, before her brain could properly process what the sign meant, ‘I am absolutely doing this.’

Even if she wasn’t getting paid for it there was no way on this earth she was missing out on this. This was one of those, “once in a lifetime” moments and she found herself grinning. She’d read about dates, seen them on movies and TV series and despite never having been on one herself she knew that this was completely unconventional. Who the fuck took their date to a place to jump out of planes?

Apparently Toshiro Shiba, that’s who. A new respect bubbled in her chest for him, this was a ballsy date move, what if she’d been terrified of heights? She could easily have been, given how short she was… but then she’d shown him her level of brave stupidity by sucking him off under a table in a public space. Maybe it wasn’t that ballsy a date move then? Clearly he didn’t think so, or maybe he just really wanted to impress her?

His grin told her he was pleased with her reaction and soon Zeke was pulling back the door to the van as they both climbed out.

‘DC Shoes is one of our subsidiary companies,’ Zeke said, ‘this campaign is going to feature them and the Roxy division too, so you don’t have to worry about any sponsorship issues and they are going to pay you for it if you do it.’

So she was going to be getting money for doing this as well? She hadn’t even cared about that, she’d have happily done it even if Toshiro was the only one making money from it. However it was a bit of a relief to hear that nothing would upset her main sponsors DCs because she hadn’t even given that much of a thought.

‘I’m definitely doing it,’ she chuckled and Toshiro grinned, throwing his arm around her as they walked in the direction of the building. Toshiro pulled her in close against her side and she was overloaded with his scent, he’d definitely worn some kind of aftershave. Some men’s aftershave could be over powering, in the same way some women’s could be but his was subtle, the slight fruity spice of it mixing well with his usual scent and encasing her senses. She glanced up at him as they walked over the threshold of the building, his eyes glancing around eagerly and she noted he looked a touch nervous. She could feel the same nerves spilling in her own gut at the thought, it was exciting and she was more than up for it but that didn’t stop the prospect from being terrifying.

The main reception area was a wide open space, a TV in the corner with sound blocking panels set at the side which had a couple of rows of plastic seats facing it as it spoke through a video of famous celebrities who had come here to sky dive before them. Unsurprisingly given the proximity to a favourite host city of winter sports, most of the celebrities seemed to be winter athletes. Rukia and Toshiro separated to look around the room at all the pictures, people who had done the dives before them. All of them looked thrilled, their faces flushed but their eyes looking so alive. She could practically see the adrenaline coursing through their veins in the pictures and she swallowed down her nerves. This was exciting.

Zeke was at the front desk making all their arrangements, it took him a tiny bit of time as he had to make a call to someone in DC shoes to let them know that Rukia was very much on board and that they’d have some paperwork to sign.

As Rukia glanced around the various pictures she noticed quite a Quiksilver and Roxy theme happening.

‘If Roxy is included in the campaign too, does that mean Rangiku will need to skydive too?’ she asked curiously approaching Toshiro from behind as he looked at some older photographs on a wall. He turned and smiled down at her.

‘She’s going to do a bungee jump instead,’ he replied, ‘and our friend Yukio who is a Quiksilver surfer is going shark diving with the Great Whites in South Africa.’

Oh wow, she cringed at that, surely that was a surfers nightmare? She couldn’t think of the equivalent for a figure skater except maybe being forced to watch other figure skaters break their bones prior to a performance.

Eventually Zeke called them over to the desk where they had a bit of paperwork to sign, mostly waivers stating that they were not allowed to sue due to harm or death which had the two of them chuckling nervously at the dark irony.

They were then led down a corridor by a female member of staff and were asked their sizes for jumpsuits which were taken from a holder and handed to them. Rukia disappeared into the females changing room and Toshiro ducked into the men’s. She stripped her boots off and put on the new pair of shoes they provided her with which would be much safer to land in… funnily enough they were DCs. She put the giant blue jump suit on and one of the female employees came into the room with a smile on her face helping her into the black harness that would attach her to one of the other more experienced jumpers. She was pleased that she wasn’t expected to be doing this alone, because she had no clue when she’d be expected to pull the parachute and run the risk of not even being able to reach the bloody handle for the thing given her tiny stature. Once dressed she met Toshiro in a mutual room, the handsome white hair on his head clashing with the blue of his own suit.

‘How do I look now?’ Rukia asked with a smirk as she posed, one hand on the back of her head and the other on her waist, cocking her hips to the side in an obviously elegant pose.

‘Stunning,’ Toshiro smirked back, ‘you should just wear that for the rest of the evening.’

‘Don’t tempt me,’ she said with an eye roll, ‘this is much warmer.’

It was true, she was actually boiling herself alive, not used to so many layers but enjoying being warm. The cold didn’t bother her, but sometimes it was harsh to deal with when the choice was between looking good or feeling good. Today she’d gone with the former, but after being dressed into this suit she wished she hadn’t bothered, Toshiro obviously didn’t care what she wore he was just here to have a good time and at the end of the night all the clothes would end up on the floor anyway.

One of the staff members walked in and sat the two of them down, the suits making weird noises when they tried to sit and Rukia laughing madly at the comically abashed look on Toshiro’s face for a moment. Then they suffered through a training video that Rukia was only partly paying attention too, she’d always had a short attention span for most things and videos often put her to sleep. She was certainly a ‘get out and do it’ kind of girl. There were statistics in there she wasn’t really bothered with and she actually found herself watching that one dodgy pixel on the screen more than the actual video itself.

The walk out to the tiny plane was where Rukia could start to feel her heart rate pick up, the adrenaline starting to kick in as they clambered unceremoniously into the tiny space. Rukia held her comment about “one strong gust of wind” to herself. She didn’t think Toshiro would like to be reminded of their current impending doom especially when his face told her that he was equally excited and nervous for what was about to happen.

‘We’ve organised an outside camera flyer for each of you,’ Zeke informed them once Toshiro started climbing in behind her. ‘So another person will jump beside you and will film your dive. You also both have cameras attached to you, and so does your instructor.’

Toshiro nodded in understanding and Rukia nodded because she saw him doing it. Inside the tiny plane was cramped once the other crew members all climbed in. They were then strapped to their instructors and Toshiro looked really upset at having to sit in another man’s lap. It did not look attractive and Rukia just barely resisted her urge to laugh at him.

‘Happy flying you two,’ Zeke said as he hoped out the plane and the engine started. ‘Enjoy the view! I’ll see you when land… hopefully alive, am I right Toshiro?’

‘Dickhead,’ Toshiro muttered as the door to the tiny plane slid shut. It took off with that horrible lurching feeling in the stomach, like a rollercoaster dropping you from a high fall and Rukia bit her lower lip nervously worming it into her mouth. They glanced out the windows while the instructors started up conversations about the sports they did, clearly trying to take their mind off things. Rukia was thankful for the distraction while Toshiro stared out of the window at the landscape.

It was stunning, the mountains just seemed to go on forever even though she knew that was just not possible and this high up it was hard to see the mark man had made on the earth, the air and the distant views looking beautifully untouched.

‘Nervous?’ Rukia asked turning to Toshiro.

‘Not with the luck of the Irish beside me,’ Toshiro fired back, ‘you?’

She rolled her eyes at him again and chuckled, ‘I think I’m going to be holding onto all of my Irish luck for this one.’

‘You’re going to let me plummet to the ground with nothing but second-rate Aussie luck?’ he gasped back and Rukia shrugged in response.

‘She’ll be right,’ she attempted a mock version of his accent, knowing fine well she was butchering it but she didn’t care. It was too beautiful an accent it needed to come down a couple of pegs. It had been something that Ichigo had said not too long ago and she’d tried to repeat the phrase immediately after, cementing it into her memory for later.

‘Did you just use Aussie slang?’ Toshiro laughed back at her.

‘I heard Ichigo say to Renji,’ she chuckled a little watching him laugh, ‘did I use it right?’

‘Yes,’ Toshiro chortled back, ‘spot on, although the accent could use some work.’

She shoved him with a grin on her face, she would love to be able to speak with an accent that could melt honey so when Toshiro repeated the phrase back to her she couldn’t help but try again and again. The distraction was welcomed and Rukia thought she was just starting to get the hang of it when the instructor announced it was time to go.

Her heart was doing erratic things in her chest and she felt like she wanted to be sick but she was also excited… terrified but excited.

‘Who’s going first?’ Toshiro’s instructor asked.

‘She is.’

‘He is.’

They said it at the exact same time, and the instructors looked amused.

‘Ladies first,’ Toshiro tried his usual line and Rukia just snorted back at him.

‘I think the gentleman should risk his life first,’ she batted her eye lashes at him and would have tossed her hair over her shoulder but she could barely move. The lashes seemed to be enough though because he sighed in defeat.

‘Fine,’ he said and Rukia grinned. Happy enough to have gotten her way but really… all this had been his idea in the first place. She’d have been happy with just dinner and sex or just the latter!

‘Excellent,’ his instructor said, opening the door and the deafening draft sucked all the warm air away from them. Rukia winced at the thought of what was about to happen as Toshiro’s instructor slid them over towards the open door, a camera flyer getting ready to drop the moment they did.

‘Good luck,’ she called with a grin, still happy that he was going before her and Toshiro promised to see her on the ground. With a weird twitch of his hand the three men threw themselves out of the plane.

Oh fuck she should have gone first. She flinched as they shimmied their way over to the plane exit and got ready to drop. She could feel the wind hitting her already knocking the breath from her lungs. The ground couldn’t be seen at all below them, there was a delicate smarting of clouds around her and she was aware a camera was on her face now recording. She swallowed her fear and groaned as the instructor clearly got ready for them to drop.

It felt like a lifetime between Toshiro going and her going, or maybe everything happened in slow motion but eventually they fell from the plane. Catching the wind they fell far and all the air left Rukia’s lungs in a scream… she was pretty sure she’d shouted “oh SHIT!” to be honest but all thoughts were sucker punched out her mind by the air whizzing past her ears. The freezing air was cutting her cheeks sharply and trying to take in a breath was basically impossible with just how quickly the air was whizzing past them.

Her eyes began to blur but before they did, she was sure the ground was drawing no closer to them, just like one of those dreams where you’re running and running but never able to actually get to your destination. They were falling at a terrifyingly fast speed with no sense of stopping.

From somewhere just below them Rukia spotted a large brightly coloured parachute opened and Rukia laughed, she’d not actually been able to spot them before, too concerned with falling to her death.

‘Brace yourself,’ the instructor above her called and then the sound of their own parachute being released was heard, they were then jolted back up, or so it felt as the parachute caught the wind and slowed their descent.

This part of the fall was a lot more enjoyable. Her heart was still hammering like crazy, the closest thing she’d felt in years to when she’d done her first big competition as a professional athlete. The slower speed allowed her to enjoy the views, the wind whipping large trails of snow off the distant mountains and the view of the ground slowly coming closer. The Olympic village in the distance was pointed out to her by her instructor and she laughed as she glanced over to it… oh if only Gin could see her now… he’d have been well jealous…

Toshiro certainly was a surprise and what a date idea… it was something she’d never ever forget no matter how many other dates she went on in her lifetime. She’d be hard done by to top one this good.

At one point it felt like the ground started to approach them a lot quicker and she glanced over to see Toshiro and his instructor already landing safely running on the ground a little to stop their parachute from falling directly down on top of them. Rukia prepared her feet to meet the ground in the same kind of manner and listened carefully to her instructors’ words.

Once her feet hit the solid earth (the impact a lot harsher than she was expecting) she felt the relief wash through her… she’d done it. She’d actually done it.

‘That was fucking insane,’ she called pulling her gloves off and running a hand through her now completely destroyed hair, she laughed and high fived her instructor once they were both separated and turned to see Toshiro grinning at her.

They both started to walk towards each other and then they broke into a run, Rukia jumped into his arms as soon as they met and he lifted her the same way he had done that first night when they’d kissed.

‘That was incredible,’ she laughed, she was grinning so much her cheeks were hurting but she couldn’t stop herself. Then he was leaning toward her and she was leaning toward him when-

‘Aww you guys,’ Zeke cooed, ‘I think I’ve just found the closing clip for this campaign.’

Toshiro sighed in annoyance and Rukia smirked at him. She didn’t care, they’d get more than enough time for making out later. Especially after an experience like that, she’d show him things in the bedroom he’d never seen before and blow his mind just as equally as he’d blown hers.

‘We risked our lives today,’ Toshiro shot at their camera man, ‘I think we could use a drink now.’

Rukia hummed her agreement, she really could use some alcohol and a good meal after that ordeal. She was very glad they hadn’t decided to do them the other way around because she was sure she’d have lost the entire content of her stomach at some point during their descent if they had.

They made their way, laughing and chatting, back to the changing area. Rukia took a bit of time to get ready again, having not anticipated that date at all. She was glad that as a woman she’d always been trained to carry everything she needed with her while heading on a night out. Goodness only knows you’d need to touch up eye liner, re-brush your hair or put on some extra deodorant only to realise you forgot to bring it.

Once she felt better about herself, she made her way out to meet Toshiro who was already being shown some of the footage by Zeke and the other staff members. She grinned and waved at them and Toshiro’s eyes sparkled when she reached him, clearly still riding off the high.

They promised to send across all their footage for them to review and eventually Zeke led them back to the van.

‘How do you feel about Spain?’ Toshiro asked as the van rattled its way back towards the Olympic village with the two of them buckled in for the ride.

‘Didn’t love the heat,’ Rukia tilted her head and a smile tugged at her lips, ‘did love the wine.’

God the wine was to die for.

‘Sangria fan?’ Toshiro guessed.

‘Big time,’ she sighed happily at the thought.

‘Perfect,’ was all he said and refused to answer questions about where they were going or why he’d asked.

Soon the van was pulling up to a stop before entering the Olympic village. The street looked plain, nothing particularly fancy standing out to her and she glanced around at the buildings trying to get a feel for what was about to happen. Maybe they were skipping the meal and jumping directly into a hotel room? Not that she’d be totally against that plan, it just didn’t seem like Toshiro’s style. He was clearly out to impress her.

‘Are you sure you’ll be right to get back to the village from here?’ Zeke asked as Toshiro helped Rukia out of the van.

‘Yeah, it’s just around the corner,’ Toshiro replied, jerking his head in the direction of the street that would lead them back to the Olympic village, ‘we can walk.’

‘Good luck,’ Zeke chuckled at them and closed over his door. The engine started as Toshiro turned around to glance down the street. They set off in a particular direction with Toshiro looking down at his phone every few moments.

‘I think we’re nearly there,’ he said and they almost walked right by wherever it was they were meant to be going. He halted and Rukia stopped glancing at the inconspicuous buildings and really hoping there was a diagon ally effect about to happen.

‘I think this is it,’ Toshiro said opening the door and the two of them descending down a flight of stairs. Only just starting to fear for her life for a second before the music met her ears and her curiosity was piqued.

‘Wow,’ she breathed when they entered the very Spanish themed room. It was a nightclub turned bar and had loads of furniture that just seemed out of place singularly yet it fit so perfectly together. Her eyes zipped around the room taking everything in, the bar was huge and behind it were massive brick arches lined with so many different kinds of alcohol and servers shaking up delicious smelling cocktails. That wasn’t all she could smell though, the food that was passing by on silver platters being delivered to tables by the waiters looked and smelled fantastic. Rukia was practically drooling, the events of the day finally catching up to her and her hunger spiking. She highly doubted there was much on this menu she could eat but what would be a few extra carbs if she’d be burning them all off later?

As they moved through the crowd she tore her eyes away from the food and drinks long enough to notice the dancing space, bodies pressed up against each other dancing to the Spanish themed music played by a live band. The band seemed to be covering modern classics with a Spanish twist and the thrill ran up and down Rukia’s spine, she’d not danced salsa in ages.

Toshiro turned to her grinning, his eyes sparkling in the dim underground lighting and led them toward an unoccupied booth. This booth was much smaller than the ones they’d been sitting in at the athletes village, seating about three Renji sized adults or five normal sized adults.

Maybe seven Toshiro and Rukia sized adults.

‘What do you want to get?’ Toshiro asked after they’d stripped off their jackets and gloves.

‘Sangria,’ she said without even looking at the menu. Fuck she could already taste the delicious fruits in her mouth causing that warm buzz at the back of her head and it hadn’t even arrived yet.

‘Of course,’ he laughed, ‘but I meant food wise.’

She leaned over to stare conspicuously at the menu in his hands. She had been right, there was a lot of things on there that genuinely went against her diet. Her brows pulled together as she concentrated, there were probably a couple of things she could get on the menu.

‘Nothing fried,’ she sighed, ‘nothing fatty. Skater diets suck.’

She struggled to keep the detest from her voice, in a place like this it was a hard kick of reality to remember she couldn’t eat like a normal person, but it was the sacrifice she made for her sport and for gold.

She spotted a couple of non-fried items on the menu and a lot of vegetarian options which wouldn’t be as heavy. There was a grilled chicken dish she was sure she could get away with, which was accompanied by a homemade salsa and Toshiro took the menu up to the bar to order since no waiter came to the table here.

As she waited on him ordering she glanced around the place, no one was even batting an eyelid in their direction and it was nice to not be stared at. People here were here for a good time, likely mostly locals who didn’t care for the Olympics at all, probably didn’t even know the Olympics were on as they moved and shimmed on the dance floor. It was certainly the most unique place she’d been for food in a long time and she soaked up the atmosphere as Toshiro made his way back over to the table.

‘I forgot to ask if you preferred red or white wine,’ Toshiro said as he placed a jug of sangria down and two glasses, ‘but I went with white because it usually has fewer calories than red wine.’

‘It’s perfect,’ Rukia muttered, propping her chin on her hand and leaning across the table to gaze up at him, ‘thanks.’

Toshiro smiled at her, filling the glasses and ensuring an even amount of fruit in both before he slipped back into the booth. Unlike the evening before where he’d been forced to shimmy over because of a plotting Rangiku, he slid close to her without any prompting. She smirked at him as they toasted briefly and took their first few sips, Rukia almost moaning at the taste. Gods it was amazing, exactly what the doctor had ordered.

Her brother would be so pissed at her if he knew how much alcohol she’d been drinking already at the Olympics and they hadn’t even been here that long.

The food arrived really quickly and the small plates and bowels were put down in front of them, Rukia realised that they were sharing and smirked at his smoothness for a moment as he slid a little closer to her so they could share without having to pass too far. She was all for getting closer, it would make the transition into the evening activities even easier. She resisted the urge to put her hand on his thigh in favour of eating the glorious food now set in front of them. For the first little while no words were spoken except to state which dishes tasted amazing and the response was that they _all_ tasted great. 

Once over half the food was eaten and Rukia felt a little more relaxed and a little less ravenous, she turned to him.

‘So I believe you owe me some personal anecdotes,’ Rukia reminded him, not having forgotten at all that she was leading the topics of discussion today.

‘Yes, I believe I do,’ Toshiro chuckled, ‘what do you want to know?’

He seemed open enough, having clearly accepted his fate given that she’d won her free skate fair and square on the bet they’d made the night before. She was thoughtful for a moment, wanting to start off light before diving in to get some answers to the questions that had plagued her since their game of “Never have I ever” the evening before.

‘Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?’ Rukia started off.

‘You,’ Toshiro smirked at her and Rukia rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop the heat from spreading on her cheeks.

‘Excluding athletes,’ Rukia replied, wanting to get a real answer from him because she didn’t at all consider herself to be famous.

‘Stan Lee,’ Toshiro grinned back, ‘Yukio and I saw him at a Comic-con in Sydney, we got autographs and everything.’

Rukia smiled, that was actually impressive. The man who had helped create the Marvel universe and those were movies she loved… she’d never read the comics of course, just watched the movies because of the three C’s.

Chris Evans.

Chris Hemsworth.

Chris Pratt.

What wasn’t there to love?

‘What about you?’ he asked taking a sip of his drink. Rukia didn’t mind answering that one, she was happy to answer a couple of questions about herself just as long as they didn’t get too personal. Besides she’d met a few famous people and she wanted to gush, even if Toshiro probably had no idea who they were.

‘Oh I’ve been to VidCon a few times now,’ Rukia replied, ‘met quite a few big name YouTubers. I also met BTS last year.’

She’d met Lindsey Stirling having skated to her music once before the girl had been lovely. She’d also met some of the animators and a couple of the vloggers such as Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart. Meeting BTS had been a highlight for her though, she loved the band, hence why she was skating to one of their remixed songs this year. They’d been lovely, only one of them could properly speak English though. A translator was also on hand during the meeting and she’d gotten a signed copy of their CD as well as some merchandise and a massive group picture.

Despite the fact she’d have loved to learn more about his meeting with the famous Marvel creator she had bigger fish to fry.

“Whose name do you have tattooed on your ass?” Rukia asked, she knew it was totally out of the blue but she couldn’t help herself.

He groaned, but of course he _must_ have been expecting it. He seemed like a smart man, and that had been such a big reveal during the night before. Funnily enough he didn’t seem embarrassed by the tattoo, just about the topic itself having to make an appearance over their dinner. Rukia envied the person who had got to spend that much time inking his ass.

‘Ran, short for Rangiku, inside a love heart,’ Toshiro sighed dramatically, ‘long story short, it was a drunken bet gone horribly wrong.’

Jesus!!!

Rangiku? He had her name? Rukia was a little shocked, but hid it well behind a laugh.

‘Who’s the wild one now?’ she laughed, ‘I bet that’s hard on your love life.’

It was true, it was something she’d been contemplating since she’d found out. Surely any other woman would have had an issue with it. At least it wasn’t an exes name, they were usually a lot more awkward. Still it couldn’t have been easy, Rangiku would still likely come across as a threat to most women Rukia was sure, she was literally the perfect woman. She was curvy, funny, beautiful, talented. She was literally a walking straight man’s wet dream. She knew for sure because she’d heard far too much from Gin on the matter.

‘Not many women appreciate it, that’s for sure,’ he chuckled, ‘mind you, they don’t really appreciate my relationship with Rangiku either.’ He said confirming her thoughts and she nodded slowly. It was weird, even for a dare that seemed extreme, she wondered briefly.

‘Would you ever get the tattoo removed?’ Rukia asked, leaning forward into his space, trying to get a read on him, trying to understand him more.

‘No,’ Toshiro answered quickly, ‘I’m willing to compromise a lot of things to make a girl happy but Rangiku isn’t one of them. She’s my best friend,’ he shrugged, ‘she’s like a big sister and the tattoo is a symbol of that. She’s just… she’s my family, you know?’

She was watching his face and it full of sincerity at his words, his eyes looking directly at her and his jaw set. He was telling her the truth. She cast her mind back to the game the evening before and remembered that he hadn’t drunk at all to the question about having a crush on Rangiku.

Gin had had to put up with the same kind of backlash because of his friendship with her, but unlike Toshiro, Gin had actually pulled back for a while when dating his ex. It had hurt Rukia but she’d understood. They still hung out in private but he felt awful for lying to his girlfriend especially when things started to get serious so he’d stopped doing that too. It had been quite a hard period for a while until things had ended and she’d gained her best friend back.

‘I guess it’s the same for me with Gin. I’d never give him up.’ She said firmly, Gin maybe would have been willing but after the breakup he’d made a promise never to let another relationship come between them again. She’d hold him to that and of course Rukia would never let that happen to them either… but then again she wasn’t the kind for having a relationship in the first place.

‘Exactly,’ Toshiro quickly agreed.

‘Do you study?’ Rukia asked, remembering the other scenario that came out from last night’s game, ‘Rangiku almost lost your assignments with her lesbian porn virus, right?’ she clarified. He laughed and nodded at her.

‘I study environmental science,’ he replied, sitting up a little straighter in his seat, clearly keen to talk about it, ‘through University of Sydney. They have a great elite athlete program that lets me study part time and by distance, and they’re really flexible with my exams.’

That actually fitted into the little she knew of him. Through her stalking of his social media she remembered videos of him picking up litter and pictures promoting a healthier and better way of living that positively impacted the environment. He was obviously one of these people who carried around a reusable cup wherever he went.

‘Is that why you pick up litter in skate parks?’ Rukia asked grinning, ‘I saw that hilariously adorable video on your Instagram, you were proper raging at people for it.’ She was teasing him of course, the video had been adorable, his rants with his stupidly sexy accent confusing her because it was both sexy and yet so angry with the world.

‘They leave their rubbish all over the place!’ Toshiro said becoming defensive as Rukia’s grin broadened, ‘it’s really harmful for the environment, and it kills wildlife.’ Despite his scolding tone and his accent and pitch matching his videos perfectly he was smiling at her.

‘I’m not disagreeing with you,’ she laughed, ‘I think it’s great.’

There was a break in their communication as she tried to cast her mind back to the evening before. They picked away at the rest of their meal, Toshiro eating more than she did and listened to the band for a while. Rukia wished she’d written down a list of all the things to ask him, it would have made this a lot easier to remember. She wasn’t exactly the best when it came to her memory often forgetting lots of stupid little important details.

‘Tell me about your dog,’ Rukia remembered eventually, ‘Daisy, right?’ that was one thing she’d seen both on his social media that had also come up in conversation the evening before as well. It would keep him talking for a while and give her time to think of anything else she wanted to ask. Plus she was curious about the canine, she’d always wanted a dog but there’d be no one to look after it when she went travelling so it just wasn’t fair.

‘Yes, Daisy, she’s a blue heeler which is a type of cattle dog in Australia,’ Toshiro answered happily, grinning broadly at the topic. His smile was so genuine that Rukia sighed contently as she leaned across the table closer into his space, like a magnetic pull, he was so beautiful. ‘I’ve had her since I was twelve, so she’s getting old now, but she’s still adorable.’

Rukia had thought the dog was a cross but clearly she wasn’t, she’d never heard of the breed before but they looked adorable.

‘Do you have pets?’ he asked.

‘Just Gin,’ she fired back quickly, sitting back and taking a quick sip of her fruity drink. He laughed deeply at that and she flashed him a wink. His laugh was just as glorious and as attractive as all his other features and made him ten times more attractive, if that was at all possible. Though she loved the light conversation, she just remembered something else she’d wanted to ask him about, but of course it would shift the mood of their discussion. She leaned closer back into his space, elbows resting on the table and courage in place.

‘Alright I have one last question,’ she said, quickly topping up their glasses, ‘you seem really close with your sisters, but not at all with Ichigo. Why is that?’

His mood shifted instantly. His eyes glanced away from her turning to look out over the dance floor and his whole persona shifted, like he was shutting himself off. His body language became more rigid and his shoulders squared up. After a few moments, he let out a deep exhale and Rukia realised he’d actually been holding his breath. She opened her mouth to tell him that they could just forget about it but then he started to answer her question. It was clearly something he struggled to talk about.

‘Karin I’m very close with,’ Toshiro explained finally, ‘she wouldn’t have it any other way.’

He smiled at the same time she did, it was nice because it fit into the relationship she’d seen yesterday, where the dark haired twin had practically been falling asleep into his side at random points through the night. ‘Yuzu is kind of in the middle,’ he continued, shrugging, ‘she idolises Ichigo and they’re very close. She doesn’t usually like to spend time with me unless she wants something… or if Ichigo’s busy.’

Rukia didn’t interrupt him. She could tell he wasn’t done, he was contemplating heavily. She wanted to ask more about his relationship with Ichigo. Ichigo had been the first Shiba child who had been adopted and so she’d have thought that he and Toshiro would have been fairly close? The two brothers being adopted together would surely have a lot to talk about.

‘My relationship with Ichigo is complicated,’ Toshiro sighed, starting to answer her unasked question, ‘he doesn’t like me very much, which is disappointing because we were really close when we were little.

‘Dad was busy with the babies,’ he continued in a low voice, glancing down at his drink which he hadn’t touched since he’d started the topic. ‘Ichigo was spiralling and I was too young to understand why. My brother turned angry and bitter, more so as he grew up. He hated everything I did; I couldn’t go to him with any problems, even adoption-related issues that only he would understand.’

He filled her in, telling her that Ichigo and he were adopted (which she knew) and that his mother had died giving birth to the twins. That was apparently when everything started to change from the sounds of things, Rukia’s brow furrowed as he told her everything. There was parts he was very clearly missing out, he’d glossed very quickly over how his mother’s death had impacted him but she could see it in his eyes from the way he was talking how much it had impacted him. Her heart was squeezing in her chest, she knew the mother was out of the picture but she’d just assumed she’d run off… not that she’d died…

‘What about your dad?’ Rukia ask in a quiet voice, thankfully he heard her despite the loud music playing around them. There were only two people in this moment, him and her. She couldn’t believe how much she was relating to his emotions right now, she’d never thought that a conversation like this would crack him wide open and leave him so bare and yet here they were… and she could practically feel his emotions.

‘I closed up,’ Toshiro explained thickly, ‘I didn’t want to upset Ichigo further, and I didn’t want to distract my dad from him or the girls. Any successes, any failures; I kept them all secret.

‘I’m such a contradiction,’ Toshiro continued laughing bitterly, ‘all I ever wanted was for my dad to be proud of me and yet I hid every single accomplishment, and I still do where possible. I grew up feeling really neglected and I hate it because it’s my own fault.’

He was really cracking himself open now and Rukia couldn’t believe it, this had not been at all what she’d expected when she said she’d take control of the conversation. He looked really sad, it wasn’t an attractive look on him… finally… a flaw. Her brows furrowed again as she stared at his perfect face, the frown lines etched in deep and creases that told a story older than the man himself wearing them. She reached forward and gently placed her hand over his. The feeling seemed to shock him out of whatever stupor he’d been buried in.

‘I guess you were right,’ he muttered his eyes on their hands but he made no move to hold her hand or intertwine their fingers.

‘Oh?’ she tilted her head curiously.

‘Physical stuff is easier,’ he said his eyes finally coming to meet hers and his lips twitching. Inside those eyes were a million different emotions and Rukia smiled at him, she knew exactly what he was saying. There was a reason she went out and got laid before competitions, why she’d built up a bit of a reputation for herself… that was because physical stuff _was_ easier.

She moved her hands up to grab the collar of his shirt and pulled his face down to meet hers. He went willingly, there was no resistance there but he did challenge her for dominance of the kiss, his tongue trying to snake by hers and into her mouth. She fought him back though, keeping the wet appendages dragging deliciously inside his instead. God he tasted glorious, she could taste the sangria on his lips and in his mouth and she licked up the flavour while doing her best not to melt against him.

Too soon she had to pull back, check he was okay, she wasn’t good at the talking stuff but that didn’t mean she’d want him breaking down on her. He seemed okay, if a little kiss worn, his lips plump and his eyes a little darker than they had been before. That was a look she really liked on him, much sexier than the look he’d worn before.

‘It’s much easier,’ she panted and he nodded quickly in agreement.

The band finished up a song and transitioned beautifully into the next, a slightly Spanish take on “Shape of you” by Ed Sheeran.

‘Want to dance?’ Toshiro asked, nodding his head in the direction of the dance floor. He had absolutely no idea what he was getting himself into.

‘Sure,’ she smirked up at him and slid out of the booth, taking his hand. She let him lead her out onto the dance floor in amongst the other grinding bodies and internally felt giddy, the snowy slopes may be his home but this was hers. A dance floor, just as much as an ice rink was a place where she’d spent a lot of her time and by the end of the next couple of songs she’d have him so turned on he’d forget his name. He’d forget the depressing conversations that they’d just been having.

They had their pelvises pressed up against each other the moment they got to the floor and Rukia nearly groaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him close. Just a few sways of her pressing up against him had his eyes darkening and he was soon dipping down to capture her lips.

Their kisses turned frantic and she smirked up against his lips, knowing exactly what she was doing to him. Their tongues met in the middle for a sensual dance just as their hips were joined, rubbing against each other frantically until Rukia started to feel a little undone herself. It was all foreplay of course for what was about to happen very soon, once they got back to the hotel rooms. She didn’t even care whose hotel room they went to, if it were his then she’d just slip out again and if it were hers… she’d slip out in the morning. It would be fine.

His hands started to roam and her hand which found its way around the back of his neck pulled him, if it were at all possible, even closer to her. She opened her mouth drawing her tongue back in and panted openly against his lips, not giving him a chance to even step away. His hands explored her back and came down to grasp her ass which she tensed just for him. He had a thing about asses, she’d come to realise, or maybe it was just hers? Skater asses were some of the finest asses in the sporting world. It was where that shitty diet actually came in handy.

It did give her a cunning idea though, she pulled away from him breaking the kiss and looking up to see his eyes blown, only a small sliver of teal could be seen around the edges. She grinned, completely pleased with her work and twirled under his arm, coming to stop up against him with her butt pressed firmly against his pelvis. She began to grind against him and Toshiro wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her in place and groaned in her ear. The sound sent a shiver of delight down her spine… foreplay like this always made the sex ten times more aggressive, ten times more animalistic and that was some of the best sex in her opinion.

He began to press his lips against her flaming skin, just below her choker. She tilted her neck for him, exposing as much flesh as she could as he continued to assault it sloppily, clearly losing his control. She could feel his half hard member in his pants pressing firmly against her ass and she was doing all she could to grind against it in a way that would remind him of their evening together two nights ago. She brought her arm up, bending it around to reach the back of his neck, sliding her fingers into his hair as he continued to assault her neck… she swallowed, her body reacting to his kisses and gods did she just want him to use a little more teeth there.

Feeling like she was losing a little control, she was pleased when the music began to change because it gave her the ability to mix things up. She pulled away from him and he tried to follow her but she put her hand firmly on his chest to halt him. He frowned, obviously very confused until he realised that she was dancing on her own. With a wink, she brought her hands up into her hair and started to sway her hips in a way that would make Shikira proud.

She held his attention by keeping eye contact, the two of them in their own little world, she twisted and turned her hips around in a circle before coming to face him again. Her eyes sliding down to where his member was pressing against his jeans, incredibly obvious for anyone to see and yet he didn’t care. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and she smirked because this was the kind of control she lived for.

He was entranced and a couple of other people seemed to stop and stare as well but she kept her eyes firmly on him. He was the one who would be taking her home tonight and the things she was going to do to him later, he’d more than earned. Her thought process was likely coming through in her dancing, because boy did she want to grind down into him that night.

Barely blinking, he continued to watch her, his mouth parted in an adorable little shocked expression on his face. She twisted around and came into him, his arms catching her, one arm under her leg which was thrown up over his hip and the other wrapping around her waist. Their mouths close, inhaling each other’s breaths.

It didn’t take her but a moment to pull his face down to hers and kiss the life out of him. She was making her point very, _very_ clear, but in case he missed it.

‘Wanna get out of here?’ she pulled away quickly.

‘Yes,’ Toshiro breathed, kissing her once again, forcefully and she loved it.

He let go of her leg and the two of them stumbled toward their table, grabbing their things and turned to leave. Rukia was putting her gloves on and her jacket, aware her legs would get hit with the worse of the cold but her legs were a little used to it. They were often exposed in the ice rink during training and competitions.

Still, the night air cut them painfully as they left the warmth of the underground bar and she shivered violently. Within a second she felt thick warm material being wrapped around her neck, the scent infused deeply by Toshiro.

‘No, it’s fine,’ she started to protest but he ignored her, continuing to wrap it around her until her neck was completely covered from the icy blast. Though the cold air was mostly nipping at her legs and through her jacket there was something about the sentiment that warmed her from the inside.

‘Thanks,’ she mumbled as Toshiro reached down and took her hand, leading the two of them quickly in the direction of the Olympic Village. The streets were stunning, little houses that looked like they’d been pulled directly out a Christmas card but she wasn’t really focusing on them. Her focus was on all the things she was going to do to Toshiro that night. She’s start him off slow, tease him a little more, maybe a blow job? She loved giving those, she felt completely in control when she had a guy’s cock in her mouth and their eyes were left begging as they looked down at her.

She’d bring him to the brink of orgasm then let him fall from her mouth, have him begging her for the next part while she prepped herself. This time she’d be more prepared since she now knew the size she’d be working with. He seemed to really love her ass so maybe once they got into things she’d let him fuck her from behind, he had a mirror in his room which would make for an interesting vantage point.

‘Your dancing tonight,’ Toshiro breathed, ‘was incredible.’

‘Yeah?’ she chuckled back at him.

‘Yeah,’ his breath came out in white vapour against the dark air around them, ‘were you a dancer before you were a skater?’

Ah, he was trying to ask her questions that she didn’t wish to answer. She offered him a shrug because she didn’t really want to reply. She had no interest in talking about herself tonight at all.

‘Do you like it more than skating?’ he continued the Olympic Village now in their sights directly ahead of them.

She simply shrugged again, hoping he’d get the hint that herself was a topic that was currently off limits. She wasn’t even sure if it was something she ever really wanted to discuss with him, she only really spoke to Gin about everything that had happened in her life, past, present and future.

‘You are such a mystery,’ he chuckled finally, tugging on her hand to bring her closer to him. She turned to gaze up at his impossibly attractive face. ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘I told you my sob story, now I want to know the real Rukia Kuchiki.’

She felt something thrum through her at those words, it was that same feeling she’d had before, that lurch in her stomach like she was launching herself into a particularly difficult jump… or more specifically like when she’d fallen out of a plane earlier that day.

‘Maybe you’ll have to win it,’ the words were leaving her mouth faster than she’d intended for them to. She hadn’t meant to give him control of the full conversation like that but the words were already out and her pride refused to take them back.

‘My halfpipe heat is tomorrow,’ he said quickly and she swallowed. That was actually the event that Toshiro excelled in, it was the one he’d recently taken gold for.

‘I know,’ she replied simply.

‘If I win, you have to answer my questions this time.’

‘ _If_ you win,’ she teased but she could feel her heart hammering a little in her chest, of course he’d win this heat.

‘Oh I’ll win,’ Toshiro smirked and she swallowed, knowing fine well she’d backed herself into a corner. This wouldn’t have happened if they’d been having sex… this was the issue with dates and actually spending time communicating with a person. ‘You should come watch,’ he finished.

‘We’ll see,’ she chuckled nervously, ‘if you’re lucky.’

‘I’m headed home with Rukia Kuchiki,’ he smirked back at her, ‘I’m the luckiest guy on Earth.’

She rolled her eyes painfully hard but couldn’t stop the smile on her face or the way her heart reacted to his words. She hadn’t really planned to see him again, this was meant to be a two night kind of deal… but would it really matter if it became an Olympic kind of deal? They slipped their way into the Village, keeping themselves away from anyone who looked like they were carrying a camera. Thankfully most of the press were off covering events, they had very little interest in two athletes walking about not doing anything against any rules…

Toshiro led Rukia in the direction of his hotel and she smirked to herself, she wasn’t even sure if it were a conscious thing on his part but she was fine with it. Made slipping out the door even easier without the awkward conversation about why she didn’t do sleep overs. They barely managed to keep their hands off each other in the lobby but once they were in the elevator it was another story. She pushed him up against the wall and began to kiss him, the two of them wrapped around each other in the same style they had been two evenings prior and stumbling out the tiny space once the ding sounded.

He panted against her and turned to unlock his door but stopped, gazing down at something and Rukia followed his line of vision a sigh of frustration on her lips. There was a “do not disturb” sign on the door.

‘Shit,’ Toshiro cursed, it was the first time she’d heard him say that word and her mouth twitched at the sides in amusement. His frustrated tone causing a thrill running through her, ‘I forgot about Ichigo.’

‘Is he with Renji?’ she asked, wondering if their do not disturb sign was their code for; “fuck off I have my boyfriend over.”

Come to think of it… Toshiro hadn’t put anything like that on the door when she’d been fucking him… anyone could have walked in on them, even members of the hotel staff.

‘Come on then,’ she tugged on his sleeve and pulled him in the direction of the elevator again, ‘we can kick Soi Fon out of my room.’

The trip back over to her hotel killed the mood a little, since she couldn’t ravish him outside. After the warm air of the hotel, the icy wind cut her deeper a second time around when they made the journey. All their trials for nothing when she stopped outside her room after spotting a sock on the door handle. That was their code…

‘Who the fuck is she with?’ Rukia sighed in exasperation. She ran a hand through her hair, the mood was being ruined but she was still determined, she’d borrowed Gin’s room before, it was likely that they could use that. Gin knew that they wouldn’t take long and she could text him when they were done, he could take a walk or go to the gym or something.

‘Gin will let us borrow his room,’ she said glancing down the hall, she missed out the part that he’d let her borrow it before, not wanting to kill the mood more. She tried to tug on his hand but Toshiro didn’t budge, she turned to look at him and he wore a pained expression like he was physically hurting.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked frowning at him.

‘I don’t think we should, at least not tonight I have my heat early tomorrow and I’m not sure Gin would appreciate the request.’ He said and Rukia just stared up at him in shock.

‘What?’ she asked, not quite believing what he’d just said.

‘I’m going to go back to my hotel,’ Toshiro said, his voice wavering like he too couldn’t believe what he was saying, ‘come on, I’ll walk you to Gin’s room, I’m sure you could sleep in Renji’s bed since he’s not using it.’

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing, he didn’t want to sleep with her? She let her mind go back through their evening… when had she even given him that option? They’d been wrapped around each other on the dance floor, even before that! Then in the elevator… it didn’t make any sense. He’d wanted her all night, she’d felt his erection in his pants as she ground against him while dancing. How on earth could he be saying no to her now? What the heck was this? Gin would let them have his room, he’d done it before… should she tell him that? Try and convince him that Gin really wouldn’t mind?

When she didn’t budge he placed a hand on the bottom part of her back and forced her feet to move, her mind still going at a hundred miles a second. He said something else to her but her mind had just struck an awful thought; what if he didn’t _want_ to have sex with her? She tried to think about something that had happened between them dancing and the hotel that may have put him off her, but she couldn’t think of anything.

It took a second for a new feeling to crash through her, leaving her completely confused because it was so alien to her. _Rejection._

It washed over her in such a vile suffocating wave that she couldn’t even open her mouth. Next thing she knew they were standing in front of Gin’s door and he stepped forward, knocking her out of her thoughts with a press of his lips against hers. In her confusion she let him take control, worried now that she may do something that would scare him off even more, repel him further.

The kiss was unlike any she’d ever had in her life, it was soft and gentle and slow. His hand cupped her face and his thumb stroking across her cheek bone, his other hand wrapping around her waist rubbing soothing circles into her hip.

Well why the fuck would he be kissing her like this if he didn’t want something else to happen? Why kiss her at all if he didn’t want to have sex? _What was the point?_

Rukia didn’t understand, he’d totally thrown her for a loop. She was so confused now, ten times more than she was before. He ended the kiss with a final press of his lips against her, stepping away from her. She brought her fingers up to touch her lips, they felt like they were on fire, she felt like she was on fire and yet he was walking away?

He said something that sounded oddly like goodnight and she nodded slowly watching as he turned to head back toward the elevator.

What the hell had all that been about? Her brain felt like someone had just run it through the fryer and she had no idea what to make of anything that had happened. Rukia watched the elevator doors close on him and he disappeared from her sights. How the hell could he just walk away? This had never happened to her before… and what was with that final kiss before he went? What the hell did that mean? Was he hoping to see her again, did he really expect her to sleep with him again after that? She frowned staring at the doors which had closed over, unable to process her emotions because she’d never felt like this before.

She was annoyed, angry, embarrassed, confused, frustrated and she needed someone who understood men to help her analyse what the hell just happened. With an annoyed groan she turned and knocked on the door.

Gin would know what was up.

\---

**@RukiShiroShipper69**  
_OMFG! (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (heart eyes) LOOK!!!!  
Retweeted from **@RukiaFansOfficial**  
New evidence to support #RukiShiro [Image Attached]_

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
_@RukiaShiroShipper69_** _I have never wanted something to be more true in my whole life. Is this confirmation???? What evidence do we have now, is someone keeping track of it all?_

**@IrishLass101  
_@RukiaShiroShipper69 @RanRoxyQueen29_ ** _I am keeping tabs, I have a tumblr with all the sources in one place called #RukiShiroForever you can check it out :D_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
** _Drop what you’re doing #RukiShiroShippers!!! Gin just retweeted this on his official twitter:  
Retweeted from **@GinIchimaruSB**  
**@**_ **_Christophe-gc_ ** _  
Yes, even I too… am a #RukiShiroShipper._

****

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
** _Ohhh! **@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice** who is Christophe??_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
_@RanRoxyQueen29_** _he’s a famous figure skater :) retired now though_

**@IrishLass101  
** _If Chris ships it, I’m sorry but it’s official. These two NEED to be together and have cute little snow babies._

**@Toshiupdates  
_@IrishLass101_** _AGREED! (grin) (grin) (sparkling heart)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you leave us kudos and comments we will start to publish more regular we promise. This one took so long because of a combination of pure laziness but also because we felt like hardly anyone was reading so we could take as long as we wanted anyway.


	5. A New Sexual Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Keep going Gin,’ Rukia said with amusement when he’d missed for the fifth time and proceeded to hit a neighbouring balcony with a clang. ‘She’ll soon have enough stones to build herself a little arctic nest for all the millions of children you’ll be having.’  
> ‘Shut up,’ he hissed at her and Rukia was pleased to see the tips of his ears had gone pink.  
> When his ninth stone missed Rukia decided to step in.  
> ‘You’re clearly rubbish at this, give them to me,’ she groaned, ‘otherwise Rangiku will wake up in the morning to two frozen statues out here.’  
> He handed her the three stones they had left and Rukia picked the smaller of the three, eyeballed the distanced, lobbed it as hard as she could and- ‘click.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always a massive thank you to everyone who is reading so far :) we know there's not many of you, so we appreciate any of the comments and kudos we get :D 
> 
> We have a discord server and even a podcast now :)  
> You can find us by searching for: TheSeireitei on tumblr, twitter, instagram and 'The Seireitei' on any major podcasting platform (spotify, itunes, doublepod, google podcast) etc
> 
> If you want to join our discord family as a writer/reader and help encourage us and find more content to read/write then please come hang out:  
> discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> Enjoy this chapter :D

__

_(Art by: Ammsterdamn on Deviantart)_

Rukia had at least six questions she wanted to ask Gin as she heard him shuffling around inside his room getting ready to answer the door. Every single one of the questions flew from her mind the moment Gin pulled the door back and revealed himself.

He stood looking dishevelled like he often did when he was hungover but his eyes were bloodshot like he’d been crying and the wrinkle in his hair told Rukia that he’d fisted it recently, something he only did when he was very upset. The lavender strands that normally hung dutifully around his face in thick soft spikes was now stuck up at odd angles and his t shirt that he lounged around in was crinkled.

‘What happened?’ she asked, barging passed him and into the room. Gin closed over the door and Rukia turned to stare at him.

‘Lisa text,’ he mumbled and Rukia felt her blood run cold. Lisa was Gins ex and though the breakup had been respectable, the two of them simply wanting different things, it had taken Gin months to get over it.

‘What did she say?’ Rukia asked.

‘Th-tha’ maybe she made ah mistake?’ he shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal but anyone looking at him could see that it was a very big deal.

‘Gin,’ Rukia scowled. Lisa was a nice lass, but she was the reason that Rukia had to peel Gin from his bed for weeks before she finally saw a genuine smile again. ‘She can’t just do that to you.’

‘But we were good taegether,’ he said running a hand through his already messed up hair, ‘ah ken we wanted different hings, but maybe ah dinnae need tae be ah dad, maybe ah kin be happy without-’

‘Gin no,’ Rukia snapped pointing a finger at him, ‘no, you’re not living your life for someone else. You were born to be a father. I respect her decision to not want to be a mother, I empathise with it but she can’t do that to you.’ Rukia sighed and pulled Toshiro’s scarf and her choker off her neck, dumping her jacket on his bed and making herself comfortable while he hung awkwardly in his own space, not sure what to do with himself.

‘Ah miss her, Rukia,’ he mumbled, ‘ah miss haein’ someone tae spoil.’

‘Don’t forget,’ Rukia said with a sideways smirk, ‘you’ve got Rangiku.’

He choked and flushed and glared at her all at the same time, it was quite amusing.

‘Ah dinnae hink tha’ me an’ Rangiku will end up there,’ he mumbled.

‘Say’s who?’ Rukia looked around the room, ‘From what I’ve seen she’s been flirting quite heavily with you.’

‘Nah she’s jist helpin’ me get you two taegether,’ he grinned at her and she scowled at him.

‘In the process of which,’ she narrowed her eyes, choosing for the most part to ignore what he’d said, ‘you two seem to be growing close.’

‘Ah’ dinnae ken,’ he shrugged, his shoulders slumping a little in defeat, ‘ah dinnae want tae get mah hopes up.’

‘Give me your phone,’ Rukia said suddenly holding her hand out for the device. He hesitated for a second before handing it over. Rukia put his pin in (Rangiku’s birthday, it had changed after Lisa) and proceeded to his Facebook messages to read through the conversation between him and Lisa.

‘Just dinnae go intae Whatsapp,’ he said and Rukia did it instantly while he made a dive for the phone.

‘You’ve been texting Rangiku?’ she asked incredulously, ‘you have her number?’

Rukia couldn’t believe her eyes, she danced out of his grasp and darted across the room as she scrolled back up through his messages with the strawberry blonde. They were definitely flirty and there were lots of them, some of them even timed at 2am.

‘Give me mah phone back,’ he made a final grab across the bed and Rukia felt his long arms circle around her waist. With a yelp she was dragged back to the bed and he had the phone out of her hands in a couple of seconds, his cheeks glowing.

‘You’ve not text her back since Lisa started texting you,’ Rukia observed as she sat back up, ‘did you give her your number?’

‘No,’ Gin frowned, ‘Ah dinnae hae th’ balls.’

‘So she gave you her number?’ Rukia was looking at him like he was thick.

‘Yeah,’ he was eyeing her, ‘why?’

‘Toshiro doesn’t even have my number yet,’ she laughed, ‘and we’ve been out on a date. The fact that she gave you her number is huge. A girl’s phone number is like the first step to her heart. If she gives you her number she’s hoping for something more.’

Gin digested her words, looking down at his phone clutched in his hands with a frown.

‘Forget Lisa, you were doing so well. Don’t go back the way, go forward. Rangiku is interested and she’s right in front of you.’ Rukia had rolled over so she was sitting up on her knees and leaned awkwardly over to grasp his shoulders and shake him. Her dress was caught under her knees so she was restricted by how much she could move.

‘Rangiku still feels like an impossible tae reach goddess,’ he admitted hopelessly, ‘bu’ maybe yer right.’

‘I’m always right,’ she smirked and shoulder bumped him as she turned around to sit down. ‘Maybe you need to do some kind of impossible feat to reach her?’ she offered.

‘Like wha?’

‘Come on I’m not good at romance,’ she laughed, ‘I came here to ask your advice on everything that happened tonight.’

‘Ah am surprised yer no sleepin with him,’ he said as if only now just realising what was happening.

‘Yeah,’ she rolled her eyes, ‘don’t remind me.’

‘Wha’ happened?’ he asked turning and frowning at her and Rukia smiled, reaching out she cupped his face with her hands. He leaned into her touch and she admired the slightly rough facial hair that had grown since he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. It was just like Gin to instantly drop the drama in his life to try and help his friends, but they weren’t focusing on her petty little dramas tonight. His ex fiancé had contacted him and asked him to get back together with her, that she’d made a mistake. He’d not text Rangiku back in a couple of hours since Lisa text, and had likely been crying alone in his room trying to figure everything out by himself. Tonight wasn’t about Rukia.

‘I’ll tell you everything tomorrow,’ she said leaning forward and kissing his forehead, when she leaned back she attempted to run her fingers through his hair in a bid to get it to behave itself. ‘What do we do about Rangiku tonight?’

A thoughtful look crossed his face for a few moments, the cease of concentration in his brow much more obvious since his hair was away from his forehead.

‘Ah hae an idea, bu’ it’s pure mental,’ he chuckled lowly and Rukia smirked.

‘I love it already.’

About fifteen minutes later, when Gin had stepped out the shower, Rukia was waiting for him, the rose on the bed ready. She’d had a hard time getting that and a few other things from her room. Soi Fon had not appreciated being interrupted but Rukia was determined to get her toothbrush and Rukia had told Soi Fon to help herself to the roses for her lady friend who was clearly over. The roses were each individually wrapped as they were tossed onto the ice after a skating performance. Gin picked one up and peeled back the plastic, snapping the thorns off while only pricking himself once.

‘She’s probably going to be asleep,’ Rukia said, as she glanced at her phone. The device was on charge using Gin’s charger because BFFs had the same model.

‘Ah’m kind eh hoping for tha’,’ he chuckled putting on his jacket and zipping it up, ‘ah bet she wears cute jammies.’

Rukia laughed as she slipped on a borrowed pair of Gins snow trousers and a jacket. He had to hand her a belt to belt the trousers after turning them up three times at the waist. She was just thankful to have something to keep her legs warm even if they did look ridiculous on her.

‘Ready?’ he asked as he pulled open the door, a nervous grin spreading on his newly washed face.

‘Yes,’ she shuffled over to him, clutching the rose and the two of them made their way down to the lobby together. The night air was unforgiving and Rukia was very pleased that she’d borrowed a pair of Gin’s trousers otherwise she wouldn’t have had any legs left to skate with. The two of them made their way around the back of the second hotel.

‘It’s the seventh floor,’ Rukia added, ‘but I’ve no idea what one is hers.’

‘It’s tha’ yin,’ he said pointing up to a balcony and Rukia raised her eyebrows.

‘Do I want to know how you know that?’ she asked and he just grinned at her.

‘Ah’ve nae slept with her, if tha’s what yer gonnae ask,’ Gin chuckled as he glanced around the snowy floor.

‘Well I didn’t think you had, I was more thinking the two of you have spent some time in their plotting Toshiro and I’s doom,’ she huffed.

He didn’t respond with anything more than a laugh and the two of them kicked some snow out of the way and picked up as many stones as they could find, throwing some away that looked too big and able to cause damage. Gin then attempted to toss a few at the glass of her balcony door.

‘Keep going Gin,’ Rukia said with amusement when he’d missed for the fifth time and proceeded to hit a neighbouring balcony with a clang. ‘She’ll soon have enough stones to build herself a little arctic nest for all the millions of children you’ll be having.’

‘Shut up,’ he hissed at her and Rukia was pleased to see the tips of his ears had gone pink.

When his ninth stone missed Rukia decided to step in.

‘You’re clearly rubbish at this, give them to me,’ she groaned, ‘otherwise Rangiku will wake up in the morning to two frozen statues out here.’

He handed her the three stones they had left and Rukia picked the smaller of the three, eyeballed the distanced, lobbed it as hard as she could and- ‘ _click._ ’

It hit the glass exactly and Rukia turned to him with a smug smile. He scowled down at her and the two of them waited with baited breath. Rukia could practically feel Gin’s nervous energy. He was bouncing on the spot both their eyes fixed on the balcony but the door remained shut.

‘One more,’ she said as she pulled back her arm.

‘Tha’ first yin was a lucky shot,’ he said, ‘yer no gonnae get another yin up there.’

Her second stone missed, just as he’d predicted and Gin laughed behind her but then she took the final stone, kissed it for good luck and tossed as hard as she could. It too, hit the glass with a clink and within seconds of it connecting to the glass a light went on in the room. Rukia took a step back and Gin nervously twisted his hands in his snowboarding mittens, his eyes trained on the balcony door. It took a while, the two of them glancing at each other before the sound of a balcony door slid open and Rangiku walked sleepily out.

Even in the night, she took Rukia’s breath away, never mind Gin’s. She really was absolutely stunning, the moonlight was shining down, and reflecting beautifully on her sleepily tossed strawberry locks. Her white puffer Australian jacket wrapped around her shoulders covered a pair of pink pyjamas. As she stepped out she gave a shiver and pulled her jacket more tightly around herself. It was clear that what had taken her so long was that she had her snowboard boots on, the bottoms of her jammies bunched awkwardly at where she’d shoved her feet inside them and she glanced down.

Her mouth fell open in shock and it took her a second before she was trying to fix her hair. Rukia beamed up at her and stuttered herself when a sleepy Toshiro walked out beside her. Rukia quickly tore her eyes away from him, staring instead at Rangiku. She could feel her face heating up but where on Earth had she expected him to go when his own room was in use? It made sense he’d be with Rangiku. The two of them glancing down and Rukia jabbed Gin harshly between the shoulder blades to get him to say something.

‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ Gin started, clearing his throat and letting his voice carry evenly in the brisk evening air. Rangiku seemed to melt against the metal railing of her balcony, her eyes wide with shock and the reaction seemed to give Gin the confidence he needed to continue.

‘Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,  
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.’ Gin continued to quote the Shakespeare sonnet, a few other balcony lights had flickered on now and a couple of other athletes had stuck their heads out to see what was going on. Despite the crowd, Gin ignored them all and continued.

Rukia pursed her lips as she noticed a trend. The male athletes seemed to glance around, work out what was happening, roll their eyes and wander back inside. The female athletes on the other hand, adopted a similar look to Rangiku and leaned, practically swooning, over their balconies.

‘Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often is his gold complexion dimmed; and every fair from fair sometime declines, by chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed.’ Gin continued, his eyes locked on Rangiku’s and Rukia mirroring him, refusing to glance at Toshiro. She wasn’t here for him, she hadn’t even had a chance to register the rejection she’d felt when he’d turned her down earlier or deal with her confusion of the goodbye kiss. Even though she was currently wearing his scarf, she was trying not to think about him.

‘But thy eternal summer shall not fade, nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, when in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.’ He finished up and several of the female athletes clapped around the place, even Rangiku and Rukia smirked at him. His face was red, either from the cold or from his own excited embarrassment she wasn’t quite sure.

‘Ah have a rose,’ he said holding up the rose that Rukia had slipped him, ‘dae yeh mind if ah come an’ give yeh it?’ he asked and Rangiku glanced around.

‘Of course, I can meet you at the front door-’

Before she could continue he’d put the rose in his mouth and ran toward the first of the balconies. His mittens were now swinging free of his hands, tied around his wrist as he pulled himself up the building parkour style.

‘What are you doing?’ Rangiku shriek, as did a couple of the female athletes when Gin used their balcony to continue his ascent. Rukia stood at the bottom watching her friend as she had done several times before, cackling at the confused and impressed faces of those he was passing. The first time she’d seen him do this, she’d almost wet herself with worry telling him to get down and not to be so stupid. Now she knew better than to try and stop him when he was in the zone.

When the balconies seemed to be too easy, he showed off a little by leaping onto the brickwork, his fingers and feet finding impossible footholds in _nothing_. Rukia still didn’t know how he did it, she didn’t understand how any parkour stunt person did.

In no time at all, he leapt toward Rangiku’s balcony and the blonde had moved away, as if sensing where he was next going. Rukia watched as Gin stayed on the other side of the balcony, took the rose from his mouth and held it out. It was hard to tell from so far down but Rukia was sure Rangiku was blushing. She still wasn’t sure if it were due to cold or actual embarrassment. Rangiku took the rose and tucked a strand of hair quickly behind her ear, bringing the rose to her nose and inhaling. Gin was smiling at her intently, and turned to glance back down as if assessing his descent when Rangiku leaned over and kissed his cheek. Gin almost fell and Rukia let out a started squeak, the fingers of Rangiku’s free hand had fisted in Gin’s jacket keeping him in place. They exchanged some words that Rukia couldn’t hear from seven floors down and then Rangiku finally let go of Gin when he seemed more stable.

Rukia’s heart was hammering in her chest and she breathed a sigh of relief for her friend. She chuckled to herself. It had gone much better than she’d expected… except maybe that little end part where Gin had almost plummeted to his death because of a kiss.

Gin started to make his way back down and Rangiku was calling after him.

‘You can use the door!’ she called, her voice torn between exasperation and amusement.

‘Yeah but tha’ wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive,’ Gin called back honestly and Rukia heard Rangiku’s chiming laughter. Gin just had a way with romance that most women weren’t often prepared to deal with, she was pleased at Rangiku’s reaction the woman seemed to find Gin charming at least and that was one thing her best friend really had going for him… that and his kind heart and (in Rukia’s opinion) his good looks.

Gin reached the ground, assessing it and then jumped down the last couple of foot to land in the snow and Rukia grinned at him as he approached. He looked like the world had just breathed new life back into him and beamed happily at her. Rukia felt a pair of eyes on her face and glanced quickly up to the balcony to see Toshiro staring down at her. He seemed contemplative as if he were trying to figure something out but eventually offered her a smile. She turned on her heel and Gin quickly scampered to follow her.

‘What was tha’ all aboot?’ he asked clearly having worked out that she’d turned away because Toshiro was watching her. ‘Why dae yeh always run away fea him? What happened oan tha’ date?’ he asked and Rukia sighed.

‘I’ll tell you when we get back to the hotel, what did Rangiku say to you?’ she asked trying to change the topic.

‘Tha’ ah’m mental basically,’ he grinned, looking incredibly proud of himself and Rukia smirked up at him.

‘Yes you are,’ she said and the two of them made their way back to his hotel room. Rukia was feeling less dramatic once she was in a spare t shirt and pair of Gin’s training trousers with her teeth brushed.

‘So what happened?’ he asked curiously and Rukia retold the entire story as best she could. He choked when she told him she’d gone sky diving but decided against interrupting her, instead he let her continue. When she got to the very end of the story she looked at him for help.

‘Does any of that make any sense to you?’ she asked.

‘Ah dunno,’ he was frowning, ‘Men are usually pretty simple creatures, if we want sex we’ll hae it,’ the frown on his face looked contemplative.

‘So he didn’t want to have sex with me?’ Rukia asked her shoulders slumped as she actually admitted it out loud.

‘Ah didnae say tha’,’ he replied quickly, ‘ah just think there was somethin’ else happenin’ tha’ we dinnae ken aboot.’

‘Right,’ she rolled her eyes but decided not to pursue the issue anymore that evening. Instead she slid into his bed and settled down after she reached over to turn off the light.

In the darkness of the room, the answer didn’t become any clearer. Rukia frowned up at the chipped paint on the ceiling and tried to work out what had happened. She scoured her memory for what had gone wrong between the Spanish bar and the hotels because that’s when it must have happened. She had such a terrible memory though and trying to recall every little thing she had said soon became too exhausting. If it weren’t something she’d said maybe it was just the fact he did have his heat early the next day?

But it was the event Toshiro was best at and he’d had a late night at the bar when it was an event he was least comfortable with the night before… so it couldn’t have been that. Rukia grabbed the pillow and angrily turned over, disturbing Gin for a moment before he seemed to drift back off to sleep. She glared angrily across the room at the empty bed.

He couldn’t have somehow, in the time it took them to walk between the places, suddenly found her unattractive? She was so sure the entire way through her dancing that he’d wanted her just as much as she’d wanted him. Heck, she’d even felt his need for her concealed in his pants. It wasn’t that… surely? She turned back the other way, now staring at the back of Gin’s head as he slept on. Maybe he’d been nervous… maybe because they’d been drinking he was worried about getting it up? Not that he’d had a problem out on the dance floor but she’d heard that complaint before from people that when their husbands or significant others drank they had a hard time getting it up. Maybe he was suffering through a bit of performance anxiety that night? Or maybe alcohol didn’t agree with him and he just didn’t feel comfortable telling Rukia that.

Why though? He’d told her loads of other things that night? She brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit on the top of it as she thought. Maybe he’d gotten a row from his sister who was the fan for running off with her and he didn’t want to do it again? Recalling his face in her mind, she could clearly see that he seemed to be having an inner fight with himself… like not sleeping with her was against his choice of what to do that evening?

Or maybe Toshiro just didn’t want to sleep with her and Rukia was over thinking things?

Then what was up with that kiss after it though? That wasn’t a final farewell kiss, she was sure of that. She’d given plenty of those kinds of kisses out at the ends of evenings, this kiss was different. It was most definitely an “I’ll see you again soon and I’m looking forward to it” kind of kiss. She was growing more frustrated the more she thought about it. What kind of man took you out for an amazing date, hinted that they wanted to have sex with you that night but decided to leave you standing outside the room door horny and frustrated?

Toshiro Shiba, it seemed.

She turned over again and this time Gin woke up.

‘If yer no gonnae sleep, go tae the other bed because ah need mah beauty sleep if ah’m gonnae try an’ get with Rangiku,’ he huffed at her and Rukia chuckled. She reached out and patted his arm.

‘I’m sorry I’ll behave,’ Rukia said finally and did her best to try and shove thoughts of the good looking snowboarder from her mind.

\---

The next day dawned and Rukia had to make the decision about whether or not she was going to go and watch Toshiro’s halfpipe heat in person. The light spilled through the thick curtains and crept across the room, that bright glare that came with a snowy landscape illuminating the world with an even brighter glow as it coruscated off the TV and around the room. Rukia watched the little spots of dust in the light as she contemplated her options. She was up early enough but she didn’t want to seem too desperate, especially not after last night. A nervous energy was blossoming in her stomach, she didn’t want to come across too pathetic, trailing after him like some puppy because he’d denied her the one thing she wanted.

Toshiro, the first man to ever deny her sex.

Rukia was now working through the possible interactions of that day. If he won his heat she’d be expected to open up to him but how could she now that she literally felt like closing herself off from him instead? That kiss had been some kind of comfort, more so than if he’d just walked away from her but it wasn’t convincing enough that she felt comfortable discussing all her emotional problems. She brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes, resisting the urge to groan into the room. Gin was still fast asleep, enjoying one of his first long lies in days.

Rukia retained a little control. She got to decide how much she would divulged because it was very clear that Toshiro was going to be coming first in this event. If his previous snowboarding wins were anything to go by this event would be almost easy for him.

What if he didn’t win though?

 _Good._ She thought with a scowl to the room, she didn’t know what she was thinking when she’d even agreed to make that bet in the first place. If he didn’t win then it was fine… what if he wanted to see her again though, the kiss had suggested that much…

Rukia would remind him that this arrangement was just sex and take it from there. If he couldn’t do that then that was on him and she’d move on. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably and she pushed the thoughts away with a sigh turning around and burrowing into her pillows. She’d made up her mind. She would stay in the hotel room with Gin and watch the event from here with him. No doubt he’d want to watch Rangiku’s anyway.

It took Gin a lot longer than she’d expected to wake up, Rukia was scrolling through her phone feed, seeing other athletes commenting on getting ready for the event. Most of the coverage was news stories on Instagram. On her browse she’d discovered something that made nerves twist uncomfortably in her stomach.

Her fans seemed to be catching onto her and Toshiro, she’d spent the better part of forty minutes lying in bed researching the newly trending #RukiShiro tag. Someone had been filming them dancing at the Spanish bar and someone else had shared a blurry video taken in the bar the night she and Toshiro were singing on stage. It was clear they weren’t the focus but some German athlete doing shots was and they just happened to be glimpsed in the background.

A lot of people were reminding others that Rukia was simply on a conquest of athletes which made her wince, she hated being reminded of her reputation. Most of the fans seemed to be thinking this was just sex and Rukia was in agreement with them, but there were others who wanted more. Already fan art had been done and someone had gotten overly excited when they’d discovered the picture of Toshiro in Calvin Klein underwear with a red circle around her own name having ‘liked’ the image. Someone had even had the audacity to tweet her asking if he really was that big or if the image was Photoshoped. Rukia groaned, she didn’t need to deal with this too… now the paparazzi would be on her back trying to catch her and Toshiro together to discover if there was something in this ‘ship’ or not. 

She put her phone away when she finally heard Gin stirring awake.

‘Wha timesit?’ he asked sleepily rolling over and his hair sticking up adorably as he peered over at her. Rukia grinned and quickly hopped up to turn the television on now that he was awake.

‘It’s coming up for ten,’ she said and he groaned.

‘Ah wanted tae go watch Rangiku,’ he said with a sigh, but the events would be starting in about half an hour, by the time he got changed and even if he ran he’d not make it up the mountain in time for the events starting.

‘Too late,’ she said sitting down on Renji’s bed and watching the television. They were wrapping up coverage of some bobsledding event and showing listings about what they had coming up that day.

‘Why didn’t yeh wake meh?’ he groaned into his pillow clearly being too lazy to actually get up.

‘I kept you awake long enough last night, thought you deserved a lie in,’ she smirked at him and he yawned.

Thankfully the hotel left small kettles and milk for the athletes to make teas and coffees in the hotel room and Rukia went about doing that, handing Gin a protein bar since they’d both now missed breakfast. They were at least dressed by the time the event started on the television. The listings were read out and Rukia had to pop on the English subtitles to help them since neither of them spoke French. Rangiku was going last in the second heat as the reigning champion and Toshiro was going last in the first round of heats for the men.

Gin stopped eating his protein bar halfway through as the camera slid over the athletes, they seemed to be strapping in and warming up. In the background Rangiku was lying down holding-

‘Is tha’ the rose ah gave her?’ Gin asked excitedly and the two of them complained about how they couldn’t rewind this television feed to pause it and double check. It had looked like it but the moment had been so fleeting it could easily have been something else she was holding in her hands.

They watched through the first round of women’s heats, Gin having to explain a lot of the rules to Rukia. The athletes started at the top of a small slope, which led them into a long half pipe. They had five tricks to complete and got various points for complexity of the moves, the height and landing and also the number of different tricks they did. He was calling them out as girls took the pipe one after the other. Then a tiny girl with bright pink hair went about her run and Gin was freaking out.

‘Oh shit,’ he said, his hand coming to his lips and he frowned at the TV, ‘shit, shit.’

‘What?’ Rukia didn’t understand, this little girl was in a different heat round from Rangiku so their scoring wouldn’t go up against each other to qualify. Gin though seemed to be thinking ahead into the future.

‘Fuck she’s gid,’ he frowned at the screen and Rukia sighed.

‘She’s gonnae give Rangiku a run fir her money,’ he sat down on the bed and they watched as the final scores came up after another run from each girl. 

‘So what, you don’t think Rangiku will get gold this time?’ Rukia asked hesitantly. Gin had moments of boisterously declaring that no one could be as good as Rangiku and making sure that the world heard him however right now he had his athlete head on, his eyes contemplative and his brows furrowed in concentration.

‘Ah dinnae ken,’ he said truthfully, he stared at the screen and Rukia felt her stomach drop… she’d just naturally assumed that Rangiku would win without having to fight too much for her place… she was Australians golden girl after all… if she could be dethroned… then…

Rukia turned to watch as Rangiku’s heat round was finally on the screen, the girls going one by one down into the pipe but none of them even coming close to young Yachiru’s scoring. Rukia was now beginning to see why Gin had been so shocked and surprised, the numbers from the other girls weren’t even grazing the tiny woman’s score. By the time Rangiku stepped up, her white Australian uniform sparkling in the light and blending into the snowy landscape, Gin was fumbling.

‘She doesnae look confident,’ he noted quickly and Rukia watched as Rangiku made her way down into the pipe. Gin was picking up on things that even the commentators seemed to miss.

‘She let go eh tha’ far too early,’ he was muttering to himself, his eyes intently focused on the screen. Rukia didn’t notice anything though, she thought Rangiku was doing well and had taken to clapping each time the woman landed in the pipe the right way up… really they made it look so easy and she knew it wasn’t.

‘Fuck,’ he said watching as Rangiku landed and approached for her last trick, ‘nae enough speed.’

Rukia watched, with worry, that Rangiku was going to fall on the last trick, but the woman was practiced enough that she knew to go for a lesser move it seemed. That was a very hard skill to develop and it took years, you literally had a second… sometimes not even that long from your point of take-off to commit fully or pull back on whatever jump you were doing. Rukia knew that too, downgrading a jump and going for a lesser rotation while landing it well was always worth more in every sport regardless of which sport it was.

Her score flashed on the screen, 87.25 which was much closer to Yachiru’s score of 91 but still not as close as they’d like. Rangiku waved at the camera but Rukia could tell from her face that she wasn’t impressed with herself. Gin and Rukia sat in silence for a moment watching as Rangiku trudged out the little gate at the bottom and the camera showed a shot overhead of the half pipe and the current scores.

They watched each of the eleven girls going down the slope again, Gin telling her some useful information about each of the ones he knew but there were a couple of new girls he’d not seen who’d likely just come up from the Juniors.

Gin called out the tricks to her and she made a face, there were just so many by the sounds of things and most of them looked the same to her. Rukia wasn’t quite sure what she was watching half the time, but then again others often felt the same about figure skating. When they were shown Rangiku back at the top of the slope Rukia actually started clapping out into the room.

‘Come on,’ she mumbled her eyes trained on the TV, ‘you’ve got this.’

Rangiku looked a lot more relaxed and Gin commented on that as well, her coach, Toshiro’s father Isshin, stood behind her and she fist bumped him before stepping out to go down the slope.

‘Good,’ Gin called when Rangiku caught some serious height on her first trick. Rukia’s eyebrows shot into the air, she couldn’t understand how the snowboarders seemed to hold no fear, no hesitation about launching themselves into these tricks. When Rukia fell it was only by a few foot, not meters! Rangiku had good speed going into her next trick which had Gin calling happily out to the TV.

Rukia watched as Rangiku sprayed the audience when she was done and cheered along with Gin when her score of 91.15 flashed up on the screen. It would give her the confidence back going into the finals… Rukia smiled at the screen as the final standings popped up and they got ready to move onto the men’s event.

Rukia felt her stomach twist when Toshiro’s name flashed up on the TV. It was strange how even just a bunch of letters on a screen could make her feel weird inside. She watched as the first few men went, it was clear the difference between the men’s and women’s event as was often the case with sports. Even her own sport, men often attempted physical feats that women weren’t designed to do. The male snowboarders threw themselves into impossible looking jumps causing the audience to roar and cheer but one or two stumbled and fell. With risks came the chance of failure and some of the men suffered that today.

That weird feeling coiled its way back inside her stomach when Toshiro was seen standing at the top of the slope, his name appearing on the screen and wearing the blinding Australian uniform. He reached down and checked the straps were secured to his feet, then he straightened up and checked his helmet and his goggles.

‘Why do snowboarders get to look so cool,’ she huffed wrapping her arms around her legs and propping her chin on her knees as she stared up at their screen. Gin laughed at her.

‘What dae yeh mean?’

‘Well I just… you’re like the delinquent children of the Winter sports… kicking snow up at people like rugrats,’ she shrugged at him, ‘the other sports are a lot more refined and delicate.’

‘Nothing delicate aboot trying tae run oan ah pair eh sticks,’ he said making reference to the biathlon event.

‘True,’ she grinned, ‘But they include shooting and we all know what a pompous sport that is.’

‘True,’ he chuckled back at her and they watched as Toshiro turned and made his way down the slope. ‘Dae we want him tae win?’ he asked her quietly.

‘I don’t know,’ she replied truthfully. She decided to neither cheer nor flinch, she’d simply let the dominos fall where they may.

His first trick was impressive, good height on it too, then he launched into his second. Gin calling the names of them out to her and this one looking and sounding very similar to the first one but once again flawlessly landed. Despite how she was feeling on the situation Gin seemed to be cheering Toshiro on.

While filling Gin in on the day she also mentioned about the bet they had on this heat. Gin knew how big a deal opening up was for her, considering she still closed off with him about her sister.

Toshiro’s third trick was impressive, he popped his body in the air and Rukia had a flashing image of those muscles and how they must be moving under his clothes, engaged for him to be able to pull off that technique in the air.

His final trick looked even more impressive than his last, he apparently got over 20 foot in the air according to the commentator (Gin knew how to count to fifty in French and that was all). He glided effortlessly down to a stop and pulled his goggles off, grinning. He was unclipping his board when the camera cut away to go back over his jumps in slow motion, they waited for the scores to appear on screen.

88.25, it slotted him right into first place while they geared up for the second round. Rukia was feeling a nervous twisting sensation in her stomach again. Maybe the protein bar and tea hadn’t been a good idea for breakfast.

They watched the set of men go again, a couple of other guys fell clearly attempting a trick that would push them over Toshiro’s score but none of them landing it. By the time it came back to Toshiro’s go, he was still in first and had guaranteed his victory. Rukia could see the smug smile on his face as he grinned, checking everything was secured. This was basically just a victory lap for him now and Gin mentioned that he may just have fun on it even if it meant scoring low.

However Toshiro did no such thing, he went down the run giving it his all, slightly improving certain elements but for the most part the run remained the same. He managed to steal a score of 90 despite not needing to put any extra effort into his performance. 

‘Well tha’ settles tha’,’ Gin said turning to Rukia, ‘how yeh feelin’?’ he asked her. Rukia shrugged because honestly? She had no idea how she was feeling. She was trying to process her thoughts but they were sticking, like an old record player that was so dusty and unused one had trouble even deciphering the song it was trying to play.

Rukia swallowed thickly and they watched the final standings appearing up on the screen.

‘What dae yeh wanna dae?’ he asked her as he stood up and got dressed. She felt like she needed to work off some of the nervous energy and no doubt Toshiro would be messaging her on Instagram just as he had done the day before.

‘The gym?’ she asked and Gin smirked and nodded. Normally in a time like this she’d have gone straight to the rink to skate, or she’d go to the dance studio just around from her house and dance. Anything to work off the anxiety pooling in her stomach, it was how she worked through her emotions, she turned them into a physical outlet. She’d been doing it her whole life but never really connected the dots until her more sexual physical outlets made themselves known.

The two of them packed a gym bag and made their way down to the gym, protein shakes in hand and Rukia started to feel better once she started to sweat. With music pounding in her ears and Gin running on the treadmill beside her, she felt her blood begin to thrum in a way that was so familiar it was comforting. Gin waved his hands to get her attention and after she popped a headphone out he pointed to the door, a few of the snowboarders she’d seen on the TV were coming in to do a bit of a workout which meant that Toshiro and Rangiku would be down from the slopes now.

Rukia turned back toward the treadmill and turned the speed up as high as she could manage, Gin watching her a little wearily. She ran until she thought she was about to pass out and Gin reached over and yanked her emergency stop magnet, causing the treadmill to slow down quickly to a stop. She panted glaring at him and he was frowning down at her.

‘Yer still Irelands best chance eh ah gold, ah’m no gonnae let yeh dae yersel’ in.’ He said simply pulling his workout towel around the back of his neck. The sweat clinging to his hair and his workout shirt drenched.

‘I wasn’t going to kill myself,’ she panted back at him, wiping her forehead on the back of her arm as she reached for her towel and her water.

‘Ah dinnae ken like,’ he said with a scowl.

‘You know your accent has gotten worse since we came here,’ she noted, she’d noticed it a while ago but only just decided to comment.

‘Oh,’ Gin brightened, ‘there’s ah guy fae Glesga across the hall, he’s playing hockey for Britain, so was his pal, ah cannae help it, when ah’ve been talking tae them mah accent just gets worse.’ He laughed as they stepped off the treadmill and pleased with the reaction he filled her in. They were called Kaname and Aizen and apparently they were ruthless on the ice. Kaname had taken a puck to the face and it had blinded him in one eye but he still played despite his injury and apparently Aizen had been put out of several competitions before for bullying people.

They made Scotland sound like a terrifying place.

The distraction was what she needed though, when she finally made her way into the ladies showers she found it was easier to focus her mind on other things. She washed quickly and did her hair and makeup. When she walked outside, Gin was waiting for her his bag thrown over his shoulder.

‘Are we gonnae go get some food?’ he asked, his accent calming down since she’d pointed it out to him, ‘ah’m starving.’

They went back up to their rooms to dump their bags and put on their Irish jackets. Rukia paused to collect Toshiro’s scarf from Gin’s room since she’d be returning it to him if she did indeed see him that night. She checked her phone to see a couple of Instagram messaged from him, but the unease settled back in her stomach. Food first, then she could deal… with all that. They made their way down to the large canteen hall where all the athletes ate for free and grabbed two trays each before sitting down at a table.

‘Ichigo told me that Rangiku told him to tell you that Toshiro was looking for you,’ Renji said dropping into a seat opposite them. The weird feeling in her stomach caused her fork to pause halfway to her mouth.

Gin nudged her arm in his bid to get the food to its target, which it did, but it felt like ash as she chewed.

‘Ye’ll be fine lass,’ he said with a frown.

‘What’s going on?’ Renji asked glancing between them, ‘did you and Toshiro have a row?’

‘No,’ she said suddenly, not that they had any kind of a relationship where they were likely to row.

‘Nah nothin’ like that,’ Gin added with a shake of his head, ‘she just needs tae return his scarf and she doesnae want tae,’ he grinned at her and she scowled at him.

‘Well she can do it now,’ he said nodding down the hall as he made to stand up. Down the hall from them the Aussie team were sitting down with trays of food and Rukia groaned, letting her fork drop. She’d had a few bites at least and Gin frowned at her.

‘If yer no gonnae eat that’ at least hae mah pudding,’ he hissed at her knowing her weakness for anything chocolate. She glanced at it longingly but she couldn’t even stomach that.

‘Whatever is going on between you if it’s got you this anxious just let it go, I don’t think Toshiro will be disappointed about anything,’ Renji said frowning at her.

‘No,’ she said, rising to her feet. She didn’t back out of a dare, he’d won fair and square. Rukia lifted her tray and went to return it, Gin had lifted his but only because he was going to try and sit with the Aussies just like Renji. Glancing down at the Aussie table if Toshiro left then Gin would have room to sit down. They made their way over, Toshiro’s back was toward them and from the looks of things he wasn’t eating much either. Karin and Rangiku seemed to be in conversation with him as they approached and Rangiku was the first one to catch their eye and wave them down. Her eyes were trained in on Gin, Rukia noticed she was beaming.

‘Hey you lucky lot,’ she laughed at them as they approached, Renji breaking away to sit beside Ichigo and greeting him with a quick peck to the lips. Apparently Renji and Ichigo had had a small row when Renji went to rescue Yuzu’s boyfriend from him the other evening, but they’d made up quickly. Toshiro hadn’t even had time to turn around before Rukia was wrapping the scarf around his neck. His scent washed over her, warm and comforting, the fresh winter air making him irresistible to her and before she could really help herself, her arms had tightened their grip around his neck and slid down his chest.

‘Hello,’ he chuckled at her and turned his head but she held him in place. The anxious feeling in her stomach was back, causing her legs to feel like they were going weak and she leaned heavily against him as his own arms came up and wrap over the top of hers. ‘I thought you were ignoring my messages,’ he said quietly so no one else could hear them as everyone in the table chattered away and tried to make room for Gin.

‘No I wasn’t,’ she said and she’d never heard her voice sound so scared before. Toshiro tried to twist out of her grasp to look at her, she could feel the clogs turning in his head.

‘Want to get away from everyone?’ he asked quietly and she nodded before stepping back, she wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes as he stood up and frowned down at his half eaten food on the table.

‘Don’t you want to finish it?’ she asked and he shook his head.

‘I wasn’t very hungry,’ he said and they waved goodbye to everyone before walking over to the place where he could deposit his tray. They left the canteen in companionable silence until they were outside and then started to chat about the heats that day. Rukia was especially interested in hearing how Rangiku had been rattled by the younger girl just as Gin had said she would… it was weird that he knew her so well from years of following her that he knew she’d been rattled without even being there in person.

They walked subconsciously back to his hotel room, since they both knew it was free. Ichigo had been down in the canteen with Renji and he had still had a full plate of food in front of him. Rukia had no idea where Soi Fon was and if she was still occupying the room, but no way was she being kicked out for two nights in a row… she was going back to the room even if she had to walk in on an unpleasant scene. Toshiro held the door open for her and she didn’t miss him slipping the “do not disturb” sign on the door before he closed it.

‘Sorry I never got your Instagram messages,’ she said simply, ‘I don’t often check them,’ it was only half a lie. She didn’t want a visual reminder of their dare at all. Rukia wanted to bury her head in the sand until she could just get it over and done with and that’s exactly what she was here doing now pulling the plaster off as quickly as she could.

‘Look Rukia,’ Toshiro seemed to be choosing his words very carefully as she leaned awkwardly against the low desk in his room, ‘I’d never force you to do something you were uncomfortable with, you know that right?’ he asked with a frown.

His stupid little accent just sounded so fucking cute and that little frown between his dark grey eyebrows just made him look ten times more adorable.

‘I know,’ she said sullenly, ‘but you won the bet.’ She shrugged her shoulders and actually felt an odd emotion come over her, like her body was mentally preparing herself for the trauma of having to relive the last few years of her life out loud for someone else. She felt oddly emotional and quickly turned her head away from him. Rukia could feel his gaze on her and everything in her body language was screaming how uncomfortable she was. Eventually he seemed to decide on something, he sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair sexily before kicking off his shoes and sitting cross legged on his bed.

‘Tell me about this emergency room trip with the butt plug then,’ he started off asking and it had not been at all the question Rukia had prepared herself for. It gave him the reaction he was looking for though by the looks of things, the tension in the room shattering in an instant as she threw a hand over her eyes in mortification. Rukia couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up in her throat and within seconds she’d gone from uncomfortable to embarrassed, and the change caused him to laugh with her.

‘Fuck,’ she groaned dropping her face into her hands but unable to stop the sheepish smile on her face, ‘don’t ask me that one please.’

‘Oh come on now,’ he whined playfully and felt more tension and anxiety drain out of her, ‘I won the bet remember?’ his tone and body language, when she glanced up, was playful.

‘Fuck me,’ she groaned and he chuckled to himself again, ‘well, there was this guy,’ she started.

‘That’s specific,’ Toshiro said, his tone still playful and light and she picked up a coaster on the desk and threw it at him. He dodged it simply by leaning his body to the left and it hit the wall with a dull thud instead. He had removed his jacket and it now lay on the edge of his bed.

‘Shut up,’ Rukia barked at him, her face on fire. She mirrored him and removed her own, throwing it on top of his on the bed. ‘Look I just wanted to try something, they didn’t come with instructions… or maybe they did and I just didn’t read them.’

‘So you started with the large size first? Rookie error,’ he cocked his head playfully to the side, exposing his throat as Rukia hopped up onto the desk to sit. She was in her signature dark navy blue jumper with the shamrock on it and a pair of tight black leggings. Toshiro was in his standard uniform which was a deep forest green, but as he’d removed his jacket he sat in a bright yellow shirt. He’d pulled the yellow beanie off his head and his spikes sat about his head just as wild and untamed as ever.

‘Yes,’ she said with a huff causing him to laugh, ‘the trip wasn’t comfortable, I was in a lot of pain.’

That stopped his laughter, something else flashed in his eyes but it was gone before she could register the facial change.

‘Do you really have a crush on Rangiku?’ he asked and Rukia felt herself relax more. He was doing what she had done, he was asking questions based on her answers during “Never have I Ever” and he was either avoiding the really personal stuff or was holding off until she’d relaxed before asking it.

‘No I don’t,’ she smirked and rolled her eyes, ‘though she is a very fine woman, if I had to be with a girl she’d be my first choice.’

Toshiro didn’t look thrilled at this revelation and muttered something that sounded oddly like “You’d be hers too” before he cleared his throat and started on the next question.

‘Have you and Gin ever,’ he nodded his head, ‘you know?’

‘No,’ she said quickly, ‘look there was a time for ages where fans shipped us and we did genuinely have a long conversation about whether or not we’d actually work as a couple.’ She said seriously, ‘I’m not going to lie to you and say there was never nothing there sexually between us because that’d be a lie,’ she shrugged, ‘but we’re not compatible in the slightest and he gets attached too easily for my taste. He wants to get married, settle down, have kids, all the things that I’m against.’

When she looked at him it looked like he was trying to compose his features. He quickly launched into the next question. 

‘What languages is it you speak?’ Toshiro asked and Rukia blinked because she thought that one would have been obvious. It seemed like he’d just pulled the question out his arse for some reason, like something she’d said before had cracked his outwardly placid demeanour. She narrowed her eyes at him.

‘Irish, English and Japanese,’ Rukia replied and he nodded his head like he’d been expecting this answer.

‘Why Japanese?’ he asked.

‘I’ve always loved their culture and I grew up on Pokemon, Dragonball Z and Nintendo,’ she said with a smile, ‘plus a lot of Japanese cuisine I’m allowed to eat because it isn’t deep fried and drowned in fatty sauces. Not to mention some of my figure skating heroes have been Japanese.’

‘The Japanese tattoo,’ he started and Rukia felt her stomach clench uncomfortably, his eyes glanced over her body language like he’d taken in the fact she’d just tensed, ‘what does it say?’ he settled on.

‘It,’ she started swallowing, ‘it doesn’t have a direct English translation,’ she said, ‘but roughly it says “when I step onto the ice I fly”,’ she could feel the wave of anxiety crashing over her at where this conversation was about to go. Toshiro seemed to be studying her intently, before he pushed himself up from the bed. He reached down and pulled his Australian shirt off over his head and dumped it on the bed, exposing his tattoos and those luscious muscles she loved so much… she tried not to huff at the fact she’d been denied them once already and now he seemed to be flaunting them at her.

‘This snowflake,’ he started, ‘it was for my mother,’ he smiled a little sheepishly down at it, ‘I had it put where I imagined my head would lie as she held me. My siblings all have the same one, but in different areas.’

Rukia jerked her gaze back up to his face, her mouth falling open slightly. That was a strangely personal thing to reveal about himself, especially considering she knew how he felt about the topic. He didn’t stop though, his other arm coming out to flash his other tattoo at her.

‘This one is dedicated to my love for the planet and the Earth,’ he said and she smiled as he walked over to her. He was still staring down at his tattoos.

‘What about the one on your side?’ she asked curiously and he smiled simply.

‘Everything I do, I do wholeheartedly, either my heart is in it or it’s not,’ he said simply. She wasn’t sure if that was the truth or just what he wanted to reveal about it but she reached out traced the lines with her fingers as he boxed her in against the desk. As soon as he was close to her she felt her whole body relax. His fingers were playing with the hem of her Irish shamrock jumper as if asking permission. She didn’t give it verbally but instead lifted her arms as if to signify he could remove it and he did. Toshiro pulled the jumper up off her head and tossed it onto the side of his bed close to his jacket. She realised they were going on a journey of tattoo discovery and she reached down and pulled her thin dark blue t-shirt up off her head and tossed it onto his bed beside her jumper. He took a step back, his eyes raking over her body but in a much more appreciative way than the lustful gaze it had been a couple of nights before. She slid off the edge of the desk and turned her back to him.

His fingers traced down her spine, pausing for a second to unclasp her bra with two fingers. Rukia jerked her body and quickly brought her arms up to keep the garment pressed to her chest.

‘That was fast,’ she said more than a little impressed, considering how many men she’d seen floundering with the little bit of fabric before.

‘It’s not my first time,’ Toshiro said cheekily into her ear and she barely resisted turning around and batting him with her hand. He was smiling, she could feel it. She felt his gaze back on the Japanese lettering as his fingers traced it all the way down her back to where it disappeared into her tight black leggings. His finger hooked boldly into the fabric and he leaned in to kiss at the nape of her neck. Rukia shivered subconsciously at the feeling and soon she felt his lips travel down the Japanese letterings on her spine and she shuddered against the desk. The hot, wet movement travelled down low over each of the letters on her back causing her chest to tighten.

‘The date,’ he said when he pulled the fabric of her leggings down a little and spotted the date. He now had his face down close to her ass and he’d finally touched on the topic she was dreading more than any others.

‘My sister,’ Rukia said, ‘the date my sister passed away.’

He must have picked up the obvious pain in her voice because he’d soon leaned forward, placing a very tender kiss against the date before standing and hugging her from behind. Rukia felt the warmth of his bare chest pressing into her back, the feeling comforting in a way she’d never ever experienced before. She could feel his heartbeat, pounding rhythmically against her back.

‘Tell me about her?’ Toshiro asked, his question soft, offering her a chance to back out if she wasn’t comfortable, but she could feel the pain in her chest as she leaned over the desk. Rukia let her bra fall away from her chest not even caring about stopping it. Toshiro made no move to stop it either but he did raise his arms to hug her more fully, his arms practically covering her chest in a way that said _“it’s okay I’ve got you.”_

‘I was seven when my parents died,’ she started and she tried to listen to his breaths close to her ear, focusing on them, these were just words, they were just words. ‘Hisana was already qualified in Theatre and Performance Studies. She’d met Byakuya when she was due to play the part of Velma Kelly in an upcoming performance of Chicago. He was an usher working at the Theatre where they were practicing. She fell in love with him,’ Rukia said sadly, ‘she was twenty at the time and he was eighteen. He was training in figure skating but was still only at national level.’

Toshiro listened intently and didn’t say a single thing to interrupt her, she found it was easier to talk once she’d started.

‘Four years later, when my parents died, she gave up her career in musical theatre to raise me. That’s when I switched to figure skating. It was Byakuya’s idea, I’d been training as a dancer before it and he took that talent and nurtured it onto the ice. It was nice to have some outlet for my grief.’ Rukia sighed, ‘they weren’t my brother and my sister anymore they became my parents and they sacrificed so much for me.’ She could feel her voice getting thicker, ready for the next part of her story as she felt Toshiro’s arms tighten protectively around her. He dropped a little kiss to the top of her shoulder.

‘She died five years ago,’ Rukia whispered and she hadn’t realised how much it hurt to actually say it out loud, ‘cancer.’

Rukia couldn’t say any more than that though, her voice trailing off and she shrugged her shoulders. ‘That’s why I have such a love for musicals,’ she whispered. After her sister passed away it had become very difficult to ever go back into the theatre again but Gin had forced her and she was glad he had. Something she’d once done with her sister, had become a way to still be close to her even in death.

Rukia could see the tears blurring her vision and she bit her lip to try and push the feelings down. She was still hoping to sleep with him tonight and no one wanted to have sex with a crying girl… she thought that in her mind to try and cheer her up and it somewhat worked. She smirked to herself and blinked back the tears just as Toshiro started to pull away. He placed his forehead against the nape of her neck again and she felt his breath ghosting over her skin.

‘Do you want to keep talking about it or…?’

‘Please take my mind off it,’ Rukia replied quickly, she didn’t want to keep talking about it at all. She was done for tonight and he seemed to understand. Rukia felt another kiss on her skin and he pulled her close to him so she was at the corner of the desk and he gently coaxed her into turning around. He reached down and lifted her with ease up onto the edge of the desk where she wrapped her legs and arms around him, nuzzling into his neck.

‘Do you trust me?’ he asked quietly.

‘No,’ Rukia replied and Toshiro jerked away from her, his eyes wide and full of hurt. She reached out to him, blinking and feeling pathetic that one of her tears actually escaped. ‘But I want too,’ she said it so quietly she wasn’t even sure if he’d be able to hear it. His posture relaxed instantly, his face going from hurt to understanding in a few seconds and he accepted her wandering hand as she cupped the side of his face, turned into her touch and placed a kiss against her palm.

‘Lie back,’ he told her softly, ‘and if at any point you feel even a little uncomfortable you tell me and I’ll stop okay?’ his eyes found hers again and they were full of compassion, she was sure was going to haunt her dreams. He’d ruined every other male on this planet for her now. Rukia swallowed and nodded, Toshiro reached back out to her before she went to lean down and wiped her tear with his thumb. Rukia took a shaky breath and leaned back on the desk. He’d positioned her so that she could lie across the length of the wood.

Toshiro kept his eyes on hers and hooked his fingers into her leggings, pulling them down but giving her every opportunity to back out. Their lips found each other and the kiss he shared with her was similar to that one last night, long and tender and full of passion. Her thoughts seemed to cease and everything in her focused on it. Her lips parted to grant him access to her mouth in a way that informed her that whatever was about to happen, he was in control.

Rukia swallowed down her fear and let Toshiro take full control. 

He started slow, his mouth hot on hers, breath invading along with his tongue. She groaned against the feeling, his hands travelled down her body, pulling her down so that her groin was pressed flushed against his and at the edge of the desk. Rukia had her legs in an iron tight grip around his waist, keeping him place. This time he wasn’t getting away from her.

When Toshiro broke away, it wasn’t for long. He proceeded down to her neck which she exposed for him. Hot wet lips began to ravish the sensitive skin of her throat and she could tell he was just barely resisting leaving marks there. Rukia groaned and shifted her pelvis against him, feeling a flash of arousal up and down her spine, her nipples erect and at attention but he didn’t rush things. He took his time, mapping her skin out with his lips. He paid equally close attention to her collar bones and Rukia remembered it was quite a sensual spot on his body. She’d loved the noises he’d been making when she was the one sucking on them, now the tables were turned though and he stopped to suck on one of hers. They weren’t a particularly erogenous spot for her and he seemed to recognise that, his lips travelling lower. Rukia realised that he was taking this opportunity to explore her, everything that she thought felt good, everything she didn’t like. They were now beyond words, they had moved completely into a physical kind of communication.

When his lips finally encased one of her nipples she arched off the desk into him. Toshiro’s arms then slid up her body, holding her waist in place as he began to suck on her left. It was like a beautiful torture.

‘ _Fuck_ ,’ Rukia groaned, her hand in his hair trying to spur him on. Toshiro caught her nipple between his teeth and roughly abused it with his tongue, she moaned out loud into the room. He wasn’t speeding up though, simply drawing the action out. When he was done with the left nipple he gently kissed the area around it before moving on to the right and offering it the same level of abuse. It was taking every inch of self-control Rukia had, not to take over, to try and get him to move faster. He was dragging everything out, like he was trying to commit every single inch of her skin to memory. His hands finally crept up her body and joined his mouth, he cupped her breasts and massaged them and she ground down against his pelvis. Rukia was so fucking turned on, it wasn’t even fair.

Toshiro still didn’t speed up. He simply took a second to readjust the erection in his pants before his lips were kissing down under her breasts. Rukia wanted to tell him to hurry the fuck up but she didn’t want to come across as weak or desperate so she simply huffed and slumped her head back against the desk. Rukia could feel Toshiro’s smile against her skin and scowled up at the ceiling, he knew fine well what he was doing to her but she had no idea how he could stand it. Rukia could just as easily feel his erection when it had been pressed against her pelvis. If he’d been any other guy he’d already be inside her, she was sure of it. Every single other guy she’d been with had been far too eager, one even coming before he’d gotten inside her (that had been a disappointing night). Yet here was Toshiro, taking his time like he had all the time in the world. As if they weren’t in the middle of the most important competition of their lives and meant to be doing everything at over a hundred miles an hour without a single break.

His lips were down at her abdomen now, exploring the light muscles she had hidden under skin, every now and again nipping it gently between his teeth. Then his tongue dipped into her navel and she gasped, not having expected it to send a little thrill of pleasure down between her legs. He explored it a little longer, driving a moan from her lips. The pleasure here was different to the rest of her body. It wasn’t hot waves of pleasure like her neck and nipples, it was almost a ticklish kind of pleasure, when he brought his fingertips up to her abdomen she squeaked and tried to get away from him.

Toshiro chuckled against her skin, his breaths coming out hot over the delicate flesh.

‘Ticklish?’ he asked, the rhetorical question being left in the air between them as she huffed back at him. He glanced up and she met his gaze by lifting her head. His eyes were wide and innocent but there was nothing innocent in his smile, nor where his lips were hovering just below her navel, on its descent to her groin.

Rukia resisted the urge to ask him if he was done observing her skin or did he want her to turn over? She was sure he’d be far too enthusiastic to map out her backside too but she wanted to get on with the good bit. She wanted him to fuck her.

Toshiro’s lips travelled lower, taking particular interest in the sensitive skin between her lower abdomen and her leg. Rukia’s head fell back against the desk and she took in a sharp breath when he sucked the flesh into his mouth and gently sunk his teeth into it. Fuck, he was leaving a love bite on the joint. Then she felt his hands coming lowering over her hips, slowing down as they reached her ass and he dug his fingertips into the flesh for a second, groaning into her skin.

He was definitely an ass man. Rukia thought with a smirk, this may be important information for later.

Then his hands came down around the back of her thighs and Rukia choked, he was down on his knees and suddenly her thighs were on his shoulders. Rukia’s eyes went wide, the bend in her legs over his shoulders and her calves resting down his back. His face was almost between her legs and she started to feel self-conscious. She’d never ever been in this position with anyone else before, it was far too intimate.

However Toshiro turned his attention to her right thigh where his lips and teeth began to sink into the flesh there too, he started kissing down the thigh, leaving another mark very close to her entrance and Rukia was torn between embarrassment and arousal. She wanted to tell him to stop, because she was starting to feel uncomfortable, but she remembered he’d asked her to trust him and she wanted too so she let loose a shaky breath and closed her eyes.

Soon his attention turned to her other thigh and she could feel his teeth nipping and sucking her there too. Rukia was going to be covered in marks from his mouth but she didn’t care. They’d hopefully be gone before the finals next week and even if they weren’t maybe they’d give her good luck… either that or an even worse reputation.

Then she felt his breath ghosting over her entrance, her eyes flew open. She glanced down between her legs and choked on her words… she’d been about to ask him what the hell he was doing but it was obvious and the sight of him there stopped the words from leaving her mouth. Fuck, Toshiro’s eyes were locked on hers. Thick black eyelashes fanning his cheeks with each blink, his eyes calculating, gauging her reaction, he obviously found what he needed too in her gaze because next moment his eyes were closing and she felt something hot and wet lap at her entrance.

_Fuck._

A jolt of pleasure shot up her spine and she shuddered on the hard wood. The wet appendage gently prodded her and she bit her lip not wanting him to know just how good it actually felt. Rukia was determined to keep her cool, keep quiet but when Toshiro’s tongue wriggled inside, nudging against her walls she couldn’t.

‘ _Fuck, Toshiro_ ,’ Rukia groaned again, her body wanting to arch into the touch but also away from it at the same time. It was completely alien to her. His arms wrapped securely around her thighs, stopping her from moving and she whimpered because there was nothing she could do now except close her eyes and just _feel_ him.

Forcing her body to relax as much as she could, she focused on the pleasure that was shooting up and down her body, Toshiro’s tongue exploring just inside, curving up and hitting spots she didn’t even know she had.

 _‘Holy fucking shit,_ ’ Rkia groaned, biting her lip as his tongue continued to just abuse her. Whoever ended up with Toshiro Shiba as a boyfriend was going to be a lucky fucking woman that was for sure. She shuddered. This was a completely different kind of pleasure compared to anything she was used too.

The appendage only dipped back into his mouth when he needed to swallow and then she got to feel it breaching her walls over and over again, each time with heightened sensitivity as she became even more aroused.

She’d started to sweat and pant and then he took a break from her entrance and she felt the tip of his hot torture device locate her clit and she was _gone._

‘ _Fuck, fuck, fuck,_ ’ Rukia wasn’t even sure which language she’d used but it wasn’t English… might have been Irish.

Toshiro’s tongue seemed to enjoy its rough bonding moments with its new best friend; the largest bundle of nerves on her whole body. When Rukia felt a finger slip inside her she knew it would only be a matter of time. He knew how to prep and last time he’d used his fingers he’d been very good at it, but couple that with his tongue was doing against her clit and she wouldn’t last long at all. Her skin was already drenched in a fine layer of sweat and she could feel strands of hair clinging to her forehead and whenever her body would jerk in pleasure she felt her skin slide against the smooth wood under her.

The one finger soon became two, since he’d loosened her off with his tongue and together they curled directly into the exact same place his tongue had been. Meanwhile the wet appendage began to ruthlessly flick the bundle of nerves.

‘ _Toshiro,_ ’ Rukia breathed his voice like a prayer but she’d meant it as a warning. If he kept this up she was going to come. Instead of stopping like Rukia had expected him too, until he could get inside her, he continued and, in fact, went faster. Toshiro’s fingers found the spot she liked and abused it, the dull muted pleasure coupling with the pleasure of her clit and Rukia opened her eyes to glance down at him, his eyes were opened, watching her face intently and she came hard.

‘Fuck,’ she gasped, her legs gripping his shoulders in an iron hold as her body arched off the desk, her walls clamping around his fingers and her breath coming out in a shudder. She stayed locked in that position for a while as Toshiro continued his mainstreams, drawing her orgasm out longer than she’d have thought possible, before she went limp on him, breathing heavy. Only then did Toshiro pull his fingers out, his tongue leaving her and as she lifted one blurry eyelid she watched him wipe his mouth on the back of his hand.

The proud look on Toshiro’s face was adorable, but it was coupled with another tenderer look and Rukia closed her eye back over and groaned. He’d literally just broke her, but she wasn’t prepared to admit that that had been the most intense orgasm of her life.

He seemed to sense that she needed a moment because her legs were gone from his shoulders and hung limply down off the desk, her toes barely brushing the floor despite the desk not even being that high up. His arms came up and he kept himself propped above her on his elbows, his hands rubbing soothing circles into her sides with his thumbs. She could feel his eyes on her face but she kept her eyes closed.

Rukia had never came that hard before, and he’d been the first person ever perform oral sex on her. Other guys had tried, but she had always shied away from the act, this time felt different though… everything felt completely different with him.

Rukia realised she was being exceptionally rude, last time she’d felt him, he’d been rock hard in his pants and here she was lying in the bliss of post orgasm. Finally forcing her eyes open she was met with that stunning intense teal gaze and Toshiro broke back out into a sheepish grin.

‘Did you enjoy that?’ he asked playfully and she snorted at him.

‘Are you going to fuck me now?’ she asked and he choked on whatever words had previously been about follow the last question.

‘I-’ he spluttered, ‘well, I, that wasn’t why I-’ he nodded his head back down her body. ‘I did that for you,’ he said and her eyebrows shot up into her hairline. Wait… he didn’t expect anything back? She was looking at him, more than a little gobsmacked before she could speak. Rukia thought for a moment on what she was about to say… because it was clear from where she was lying that he was still very much hard. Deciding to just go with blunt and honest, she locked eyes with him and stated simply.

‘I want you to fuck me.’

He spluttered, his cheeks dusting red for a second and his eyes hungrily travelling down her body. He was only a man and apparently it didn’t need any more discussion than that simple statement. Toshiro only tore his eyes away from her for a second to glance across the room at the bedside table where she knew he stored his lube and condoms. He walked over and she remembered he was still half dressed when she saw his trousers.

‘You can’t fuck me with pants on,’ she called after him, enough strength returning to her limbs to allow her to lean up onto her elbows. Rukia grinned as she watched Toshiro from behind undo his belt literally drop his snow trousers and his underwear in one go, stepping out of them. She laughed at the speed and he tossed a cheeky smirk at her from over the top of his shoulder. He pulled open his drawer and Rukia let her eyes fall to his ass, admiring it and spotting the little tattoo they’d spoken about.

Toshiro took off his watch and left it on the nightstand, pulling out the lube and a condom, Rukia realised he’d already disposed of his rings and he turned back toward her. His cock was standing at full attention, proudly being displayed and she couldn’t help herself… she spread her legs wide for him and his eyes bulged in shock, his feet getting caught in his trousers and sending him stumbling. The heat flourished back in his cheeks in an instant but his eyes never once left her. She could feel his gaze like a physical feeling similar to his tongue, stroking against her entrance and it made her shiver in delight.

When he was standing in front of her again he placed the condom down within reach, finally tearing his gaze away from her entrance for his eyes to travel up her body and meet hers. Rukia smirked up at him and watched as he got back into position. He leaned over her and she greedily captured his lips, tasting herself on his tongue which was oddly arousing. This kiss was slow too but growing impatient Rukia decided to heat it up. Her hand slipped around the back of his head holding him in place as she fought for dominance once again. After a brief battle, he relinquished with a groan, clearly too turned on to really care about the outcome of that little duel. She explored his mouth quickly, urgently, and he broke away flushed and disorientated. His fingers soon pressed against her entrance and she relaxed to his touch, his eyes were scouring back over her body and she laid her arms out to the side, as far as the desk would allow her as if to display herself for him.

Toshiro whined and his two fingers were soon slipping back inside her. Rukia felt that flush of pleasure shooting back up her body again and gasped at the feeling. She was still incredibly sensitive from her previous orgasm and so he abused that as best he could. Soon his fingers were gently stretching her, trying to loosen her muscles for something much larger. It didn’t take Toshiro long before three fingers were slipping inside and she ignored the burn in favour of a soft moan. She wanted him sooner rather than later, wanted to watch him come undone the way he’d done with her.

Rukia’s eyes were closed against the pleasure, knowing that looking at his beautiful face would cause her to lose all her control. She was panting on the desk on full display to him and she could feel him leaning over her to ravish at her neck.

‘Yes,’ she sighed, her fingers threading into his hair and tugging on the soft white locks, ‘please fuck me,’ she groaned and Toshiro moaned into her neck. He was pulling back. She opened her eyes long enough to watch that beautifully thick cock of his being encased in the larger condom before being slathered with lube. Biting her lip she spread her legs further apart as he reached down to align himself with her. Then very slowly he pressed against her.

Rukia was prepared, ready for the breach which didn’t come. With a huff she opened her eyes to find his face hovering above her own. Toshiro leaned down and pecked her lips once softly.

‘Don’t close your eyes,’ he whispered and pulled back. Rukia felt a blush creeping across her face, what? Did he expect her to keep eye contact with him as he entered her?

He began to push in and her mouth fell open in shock. _Oh._ That’s exactly what he expected. His eyes were locked onto hers, fuck, this wasn’t good. She found him far too attractive for this. The head of his cock was slowly being encased inside her, deep teal eyes blown wide with pleasure and the sweat glistening on his forehead. She tore her eyes away from his for a second to let them wander over his face, which was like the rest of him; perfect.

His skin was flawless, she couldn’t see a single spot no matter how hard she looked, his eyebrows looked immaculate, not a hair out of place and every single hair flowing in the right direction. Those stupidly large eyes framed by thick lashes that some women would pay a fortune for. She swallowed, she’d never appreciated a guy with high cheekbones before, or a slightly more pointed chin but she was appreciating it now on Toshiro. He smiled softly, he was about halfway inside her and the stretch was becoming more noticeable. She bit her lip and Toshiro followed it with his eyes. Rukia had thought that what he’d done before had been the most intimate thing that she’d ever done with a partner but she was wrong, this was. The eye contact seemed to make everything heightened, like she was feeling everything twice… once as herself and another through him. He took the last inch with a gentle thrust of his hips and the two of them panted. Exchanging air between their mouths, he held her eye contact as he started to thrust and she groaned, naturally closing her eyes. She didn’t want to look at him for this part, fuck he was just too gorgeous.

Toshiro’s thrusts ground to a halt though and Rukia groaned.

Why wasn’t he just fucking her? Rukia glared up at him and as soon as he had her eye contact again, he smirked and began to thrust again. Fuck! Rukia gritted her teeth against her frustration and held his eye contact. She wrapped her arms around his back, fingernails digging into his skin, feeling the way his muscles moved under the flesh and she swallowed thickly. Fog was filling her head and her walls were hugging him tightly. The lube made the ride smoother and soon Toshiro was panting more heavily… she’d been right, he wouldn’t last long. She watched his face for a moment, appreciating the tensing of his jaw as he reached down and lifted her ass a little for a particularly deep thrust. Her mouth fell open and her walls gave a flutter, pleasure shooting up and down her spine for a second time and she moaned.

‘F-fuck,’ Toshiro groaned his eyes going wide as he gazed down at where they were locked, ‘did you just?’ He glanced back up to meet her eye, looking a little surprised.

Fuck, Rukia felt her face going red because she had!

Without saying anything though she reached up and grasped his head, pulling him down into a kiss. It was deep and heavy from the start and he moaned into her mouth before thrusting harder than he had before. Very soon he couldn’t even kiss properly, so she just kept her mouth close to his, letting his panting fill hers and feeling every single thrust of that thick cock inside her. It was glorious.

‘Fuck,’ he moaned again after a few moments of frantic thrusting. His lips found her neck, where he managed to suck and bite what was probably a brand new love bite into her flesh… judging by the intermediate panting between the task though he was very close.

Toshiro just needed a push, something that gave Rukia the final bit of control for the evening and so she pushed herself up until her lips were close to his ear.

‘I’ve never been fucked like this before,’ Rukia said, her voice low and husky, panting into his ear, ‘I love the way you fuck me.’

It did the trick. Toshiro thrust deep inside her and went rigid, his mouth falling open and a low throaty moan escaping it. She watched as the orgasm raked his body, his muscles twitching and then he relaxed. Bright teal eyes opened and he gazed down at her as he continued to pant.

‘Fuck,’ he groaned, chuckling a little at the smirk on her face. Was she proud of that? Yes she was.

‘“Did you enjoy that?”’ Rukia echoed back at him.

‘Shut up,’ Toshiro laughed, ‘do I get a prize for a double orgasm?’ it was his turn to look smug now. He’d pulled back but not out of her, his softening cock still encased in her body and she flushed at his words.

‘Sure, I’ll buy you a fucking cookie.’

Then he was laughing, and she was laughing because he was laughing and it was ridiculous. You weren’t meant to laugh during or after sex, she was sure of it, yet here they both were, giggling away. The vibrations were doing interesting things to her body though and she could still feel him inside her. Even soft, he was actually quite big. The image of that hot Calvin Klein picture flashed up in her mind as she thought about it.

She enjoyed the moment for a while, when he turned back to her and his hand started stroking through her hair, that same tender look from earlier flashed across his face and she felt something thrum through her. This time it wasn’t coming from her stomach though, it was through her chest. She swallowed and leaned to sit up. He let her, moving back until she was sat up on the desk.

‘I should go,’ Rukia said quickly glancing at the door.

‘Oh,’ Toshiro said, clearly it had not been what he’d wanted to hear, his dick finally slipped out of her and she gasped at the feeling. He quickly turned around to dispose of the condom and Rukia sat on the table fighting with herself… she didn’t want to leave but she knew she should. Staying was what people with feelings did... and then just how long would she stay for? A movie? A sleepover? No… it wasn’t her scene.

Even so the thought of leaving left her with a weird tight feeling in her chest. Rukia swung her legs over and slipped down to stand on the floor, her bare feet making contact with the plush carpet and she went about quickly getting dressed. Spotting her, Toshiro quickly put on his underwear and his snow trousers. It took her a little longer to find everything and gather it up, when she turned to see him, he was watching her with a sheepish almost sad look in his eyes.

Her mind helpfully supplied an image of the two of them curled up in bed together, snuggled in and watching Friends even though she’d seen it a dozen times. Beating the images down Rukia leaned against the desk and looked around for inspiration when she spotted a notepad and pen.

‘Come here,’ she said jerking her head and he blinked but obediently moved toward her. Rukia lifted the pen and bit the lid off the end and Toshiro frowned. When he drew close she took his left arm and started to write her phone number out in large numbers. When she looked back up at him he had a stupidly happy look on his face, his grin was splitting and his two tiny dimples just made the whole damn thing worth it. She took the pen lid from her lips and tried not to smile herself as she put it back on the pen and sat it down on the very desk where they’d just had sex. He was tracing the numbers on his skin and grinned at her.

‘You marked me enough today,’ Rukia huffed at him and he laughed, the sound making him ten times more attractive and it wasn’t fair with all those stunning muscles already on display to her. She rolled her eyes, feeling heat in her cheeks and this time couldn’t fight against the smile that etched its way onto her face.

‘Speaking of which,’ Toshiro winced and pointed at her neck, ‘sorry about that.’

Rukia reached up and touched her fingers into the spot where he’d pointed, there was a dull throb under her skin and she smirked.

She’d wear it like a medal.

Not doing a single thing to cover it up, she picked up her jumper and tied it around her waist, leaving her in only her thin t shirt and then put her jacket over her arm to carry out with her. Just as she made a motion to leave, Rukia spotted the box of his condoms down on the desk and plucked a few from the box and did nothing more than wink at him in response. She’d be saving those, for their next encounter. 

‘I’ll see you soon,’ Toshiro said eagerly as he followed her to the door, still looking immensely proud of himself.

‘Yes well, you have my number now,’ Rukia teased back at him, ‘just don’t forget and go for a shower or whatever,’ she said and they laughed. He held the door open and she paused just outside the hall. This was kind of new too, she never did this door, threshold thing. She usually just left… but she turned to him and he looked hopefully down at her.

Who was she to deny that little dimple face anything?

With a smile she reached up on her tip toes and he lowered his face down for a final press of his lips against hers, the two of them smiling into the kiss. Rukia pulled back and cleared her throat, his eyes were sparkling and she quickly turned to walk away.

‘Bye Toshiro,’ she called after him and pressed the button for the elevator. While Rukia stood waiting for the doors to open she made the mistake of looking back down the hall over her shoulder. He was stood there watching her, still topless and not caring at all. He made the entire hall seem shabbier, like it needed new wallpaper and a new carpet because he just looked so damn good.

Unable to help herself she dropped her jacket beside the elevator doors and skipped back down towards him. His chest heaved and he looked at her expectantly as she drew near.

Her fingers found their way around the back of his neck and she pulled him down to meet her lips. This time the kiss was somewhere in between the hot and heavy make out sessions they had when she was in control and the tender and softer ones they had when Toshiro was in control. It had passion, it had need and she may have added some of that need when she wrapped her other had around his back and dug her fingernails into his flesh. He groaned into her mouth and she used the opening in his lips to slip her tongue in. The appendages battled for dominance and not even the sound of approaching footsteps were stopping them. She could feel Toshiro’s smile in the kiss and they broke apart for a second of air, not pulling away from each other.

‘I thought you had to go?’ Toshiro teased against her lips.

‘In a second,’ Rukia mumbled and they were lip locked again, his arms around her waist and pulling her flush against his body. It was a feeling she’d never ever grow tired of, those muscles rubbing against her. She moaned gently into his mouth, sucking his lower lip into hers and abusing it with her teeth for a second before someone loudly cleared their throat close by.

The sound was enough to break them apart and when she turned around to find the source of the noise she saw a tall burly man leaning against the wall watching them with the biggest grin on his face.

‘Dad,’ Toshiro squeaked and Rukia’s eyebrows shot up.

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ he said in a heavy Australian accent.

FUCK!

Rukia went bright red and when she glanced up at Toshiro he had done the same. They broke apart, putting a bit of distance between them. What a position to get caught in? Literally in the middle of the hall with her tongue down his sons throat, seriously debating about shoving him back into the room and going for another round. Rukia groaned internally when she realised what state the two of them were in. It was incredibly obvious what they’d both just been doing. Toshiro was naked from the waist up, Rukia in a thin fabric t shirt which she’d likely put on inside out considering she couldn’t feel the annoying tickle of the label on the back of her neck. She knew she had a fresh hickey and their hair looked dishevelled and a little sweaty.

‘You must be Rukia,’ Isshin said with a knowing smirk on his face which made her flush impossibly darker. ‘It’s nice to finally meet you.’

‘Th-thank you,’ she mumbled, ‘ah, I’ll c-catch you later Toshiro?’ Rukia said quickly turning to him. He looked at her like he was torn too… between not wanting her to go but also not wanting her to stick around for the awkward conversation he was about to have with his father.

‘Yeah,’ he said and she slipped away from him, this time without a lingering peck… they’d done enough damage she was sure.

Rukia scarpered down the hall, retrieved her jacket and was pleased that the elevator opened the second she pushed the button for it.

Once inside she glanced back as she pressed the button for the ground floor, father and son were in serious conversation but Toshiro’s eyes still managed to find hers just before the lift doors closed. She banged her head against the back of the elevator wall. That couldn’t have gone any worse than it had. Toshiro’s fathers first impression of her… probably in line with her awful reputation.

Rukia groaned and placed a hand over her eyes, as if hiding her view of the world would wipe away the last few minutes. Just how long had his father been standing there watching them? She was sure she’d heard the steps a while before the throat clear had happened? She just assumed it was someone walking down the hall trying to get to their hotel room. It never once crossed her mind that it could have been a member of his family.

‘Fuck,’ Rukia hissed as the elevator doors opened and she walked out, then she was suddenly overcome with a fit of laughter. It bubbled inside her and earned her funny looks from people walking past her in the lobby as she quickly pulled her jacket on. The thought of the current conversation between Toshiro and his father was pretty hysterical… she’d love to find out exactly how that interaction went.

The walk back to her own hotel was short and she was only stopped by Renji and Ukitake when she saw them in the hall.

‘That’s a shit eating grin,’ Renji said loudly and Rukia looked up and spotted them as Ukitake took out his hotel key and swiped into his room. ‘Someone got laid.’

‘Aren’t you two meant to be at practice?’ Rukia asked, choosing to ignore his comment. Renji smirked because he knew he was right but the smile didn’t last long as Ukitake was overcome with another fit of coughs.

‘Can you get him some water?’ Renji asked grimacing as he helped the older man into the room. Suddenly understanding what they were doing back, Rukia bolted to her room, pleased to find it vacant and Soi Fon free and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge to take back.

Rukia handed it over and he drunk deeply from it, thanking her calmly between each mouthful. She waved his thanks off, her eyes full of concern.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked and he nodded.

‘I am fine, tell me how your evening with young Master Shiba was?’ he asked his eyes twinkling as she spluttered and Renji laughed.

‘How on earth do you know?’ she groaned and the two males laughed again in unison.

‘I do keep up to date on trending snowboarding topics and the hashtag has very much taken off,’ he chuckled, ‘the ship is sailing.’

‘There’s no ship,’ Rukia huffed her cheeks going bright red.

‘Then tell me what that thing is on your neck Miss Kuchiki?’ Ukitake asked and she folded her arms.

‘The real ship is Gin and Rangiku, haven’t you heard anything about that?’

‘I have seen videos of him scaling the hotel to give her a rose,’ Renji said with a smirk, ‘didn’t think he had it in him.’

‘He’s not,’ Rukia frowned, ‘he actually gets kind of nervous… I think last night was different because that’s something he’s pretty comfortable with… but when it’s just the two of them alone he struggles.’

Renji looked thoughtful for a moment and sighed before standing up.

‘Wait here,’ he disappeared and left Rukia and Ukitake alone for a little while. The two chatted amicably about how practice had gone that day when Renji returned with a small blue box in his hands.

‘I got these before we came, just in case,’ he tossed them to her, ‘Gin needs them more than me though, why don’t you keep a hold of them?’

She looked down, recognising the box instantly, Kalms. They were small blue circular pills you took to calm the nerves. She smiled up at him, this was actually a really good idea… a little something to help relax him may just be the thing he needed next time an encounter turned awkward.

‘Thanks Renji,’ she nodded and pocketed them for later.

‘No worries,’ he sat down beside Ukitake and Rukia decided to take her leave. She bid the two of them goodnight and slipped into her room.

Rukia pulled her phone out as soon as her door was shut and tossed it down on the bed after checking for messages. There were none so far, but she hadn't expected his conversation with his father to be fleeting. His father was also his coach and Bykuya would have lectured her something awful if he'd seen her in that state. Her phone pinged and Rukia grabbed for it, disappointed to see that it was only Soi Fon asking if she wanted food brought back. The other Irish lass hated eating in large crowds so Rukia put an order in and decided to change into her pyjamas early so she could have a lazy evening.

'I heard you were staying with Toshiro,' Soi Fon said as she let herself into the room and Rukia jumped up to help her put the things down on their little room desk. Rukia pursed her lips at the thought and quickly checked her phone again but there was still no messages yet... his father must have been having a long chat with him, either that or something else had come up? She frowned wondering for a moment what else could have happened. Rukia managed to divert the topic away from Toshiro by asking Soi Fon about her day. While halfway through eating and watching the Olympics in the background her phone pinged again and she instantly put her barely finished food down and made a grab for her phone.

Rukia smirked when she spotted the unrecognisable number on the screen and the Whatsapp message, opening the chat to see him appearing as online. His image on Whatsapp was the same as the birthday one she'd seen on Rangiku's Instagram and she grinned down at what he'd written. It only took her a second to reply.

**Toshiro, 21.04pm:** _So dad found my condoms and thinks you’re pretty lucky. What do you think? ;)_

**Rukia, 21:05pm:** _I don't know whether to be concerned that your Dad knows your cock size or to just agree with him ;)_

**Toshiro, 21.05pm:** _You can do both ;)_

 **Toshiro, 21.06pm:** _My dad is chill though so it’s not really a problem, just highly embarrassing xD_

Rukia smirked down at her phone pleased he was online and chatting, she ended up with a pillow under her chest as she continued to text, her feet in the air swinging about like a stupidly love struck teenager.

'I'm going for a shower,' Soi Fon said with a yawn.

'Okay,' Rukia said back not really paying her any attention.

**Rukia, 21:06pm:** _Are you saying your Dad couldn't tell the size of your cock based on how giant you are in person? :O_

**Toshiro, 21.06pm:** _Hey now, I’m not sure you’re in any position to make fun of someone’s height. Besides, I thought my cock size might have been obvious in that Calvin Klein shot you liked…_

**Rukia, 21:07pm:** _Just so we are clear you are a giant to me ;) I did really love that shot. (drool face) How come you didn't do more of them?_

She sent the drooling face emoji just for good measure, she wanted him to know that she found every physical aspect of him attractive.

**Toshiro, 21:08pm:** _Oh I had no idea you were such a fan, maybe I will have to do more of them ;)_ _Have you done any shoots like that before? Other than your burlesque ones, of course._

Rukia smirked into her phone at the mention of her burlesque shots, of course she knew he'd gone through her Instagram. It was one of the first things people did when meeting each other was to stalk their social Medias. It seemed he was a massive fan of the burlesque look and she took a mental note, it was a shame she hadn't brought anything with her to the Olympics that she could put on to tease him. Rukia made her way back into Rangiku’s Instagram and found the original picture again, looking at it one more time for good measure and wishing she could like something more than once. After she had fill of it, she jumped onto Facebook and pulled up a private shot she'd done with Ann Summers and their new line of women's sleep shirt wear.

**Rukia, 21:10pm:** _Closest thing I have I can send you is this, it was only released for a while on the Ann  
Summers line until they stopped doing the shirts. (winky kiss)_

She attached the picture which was basically just her in a sleep shirt on her knees on a bed in very sultry looking lighting.

**Toshiro, 21:16pm:** _Far out you’re gorgeous_ (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (heart eyes) _You know I think I’d like to see you like this in one of my shirts though_ (wink)

Rukia waited a while for the reply to come through, she had mildly turned her attention back to the TV but picked her phone back up in an instant when the ping sounded. She grinned smugly at his message, it had been exactly what she'd expected of course. Rukia couldn't help but notice the little possessive side of him coming out in the text too, Gin had mentioned to her once that guys wanting girls in their clothing was a possessive thing so that was why she often declined the offers for jackets and other such nonesense when men tried to hand them to her. The exception to that rule was Toshiro once again. Though to be fair he didn't give her a choice when it had come to his scarf.

**Rukia, 21:17pm:** _And covered in your bites too? (wink) Well Shiba if you give me one of your shirts maybe I will fulfil that request._

**Toshiro, 21:18pm:** _Continue putting those images in my head and I’ll get turned on again, Kuchiki, just like I was when you ran away and left me to face my dad alone this evening_ (sad face)

The next message that came through sent a little thrill through her. She could feel herself growing excited at his words, biting her lip and remembering more fully the way the two of them left. That had been quite a fun evening. Her eyes shifted to the bathroom door where the sound of the shower was switching off and Rukia tried to fix a stoic look on her face instead of the stupid grin that was there before it.

**Rukia, 21:19pm:** _Maybe that's just how I like you? Turned on ;) Though I am sorry I fled haha your dad was just watching us kiss!! Does he normally do that? Well embarrassing. He obviously knows exactly what we'd been doing._

And it had been, she covered her face with her hand again at the thought.

**Toshiro, 21:20pm:** _Yeah hahaha sorry about him!_ (strained smile) _He’s honestly harmless, just a cheeky bastard who likes to embarrass his kids as much as possible_ (crying laughter) _He’s very relaxed about all that stuff thankfully! He just came up to talk to me about Yuzu so that’s why he interrupted._

Rukia quickly scanned his text as Soi Fon came out the bathroom and flopped onto her bed clearly exhausted from her training that day. Rukia slipped under her covers and put her lamp off at the side so Soi Fon couldn't as easily see her face in the slightly dark room. She could picture Isshin more clearly now, a massive man who was out to embarrass his kids but deeply loved them. It must have been nice having a figure like that in your life growing up, she was almost tempted to text that back but it would likely lead onto more depressing chat. She opted for a lighter topic instead.

**Rukia, 21:24pm:** _That's okay! Maybe I'll meet him under different circumstances next time haha! What did he say about Yuzu?_

**Toshiro, 21:24pm:** _Well he wants Ichigo and I to be nicer to Jinta because apparently it’s upsetting her that we hate him_ (shrug) _I promised to work on it. I think she’s getting overwhelmed with all this Olympics stuff as well, it’s been very intimidating for her._

Rukia read the first message that came through remembering the drama that had happened at the bar after their game of never have I ever. She pursued her lips with a sigh, wanting to ask why he hated Jinta so much when she noticed he was typing more. Rukia waited patiently for the next message to come through chewing her lip thoughtfully. This must have been what it was like in a large family, lots of drama. She supposed she'd rather take that though than the pure emptiness that came with having virtually no one in your life. His next message popped up and she read it smiling.

**Toshiro 21:25pm:** _I was wondering if I could ask you a favour, and you can totally say no, but would you be able to give Yuzu some pointers on landing her triple Lutz? She’s really been struggling with it and I know it would mean the world to her since she’s a massive fan of yours. Even just a few words of advice? It can wait until after finals?_

She typed out her reply without really thinking much about how it would come across.

**Rukia, 21:26pm:** _Sure, I'd love to help! I have an hour free practice time at the rink tomorrow you could bring her by for twenty minutes at the end? I'll have her landing her triple Lutz in no time! (wink)_

**Toshiro, 21:27pm:** _Are you sure? Won’t you want to be practicing for your finals?_

She smirked down at her phone burying herself down into the crinkly hotel bedsheets and further out of view of Soi Fon.

**Rukia, 21:28pm:** _Are you trying to say I need practice or something? Excuse me, but I am a champion. (rolling eyes) (rolling eyes) Haha, honestly it's not a worry, anything to bring two siblings closer together._

**Toshiro, 21:29pm:** _Well I was going to compliment you but it looks like your head is already big enough_ (rolling eyes) (shrug) _But seriously, thank you_ (heart) _You’re amazing_ (winky kiss)

Rukia knew she was grinning down into her pillow but she did nothing to stop it. Instead she continued to text him for the rest of the evening, and fell asleep with her phone still clutched in her hands.

\---

 **@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
** _Um can we all just appreciate my boi climbing walls for the girl he loves???? What an absolute LEGEND!_

**@RukiShiroShipper69  
** _Um can we also also appreciate that Rukia was with Gin and Toshiro was with Rangiku??? #IreAussie4LYFE_

**@IrishLass101  
** _The #RukiShiro ship was trending again today! In America, UK, Ireland, Australia and Germany! Everyone loves this budding romance!!!_

**@Toshiupdates  
 _@IrishLass101_** _we going to get our cute little snowbabies!!! (heart eyes)_ _(heart eyes)_ _(heart eyes)_

**@IrishLass101  
** ** _@Toshiupdates_** _omfg yessss but real question tho… they gonna be boarders or skaters???_

**@Toshiupdates  
 _@IrishLass101_** _borders obvs_

**@IrishLass101  
** **_@Toshiupdates_ ** _I dunno man… Rukia looks like she could take him!_

**@Toshiupdates  
 _@IrishLass101_** _… that is tru (crying laughing face)_

****

**@IrishLass101  
** ** _@Toshiupdates_** _Guess we’ll have to wait and see…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't forget if you're enjoying this story to leave us a comment and a kudos! We really appreciate it :D 
> 
> Also if you want to see what I'm working on and progress that I'm making, you can find my info on trello here:  
> https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/writing-projects
> 
> Thanks for reading :D


	6. He Doesn't Know How to do... What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rangiku then proceeded to pull out as many articles of underwear as she could to make a ‘delicates’ pile even though they could turn down the settings on these machines. Gin was very obviously trying to talk to her about the event he was facing that day while she questioned him but his eyes were flickering to what she was holding in her hands.   
> ‘Is she flirting?’ Rukia asked Toshiro under her breath. The handsome Aussie man had started pulling his pile of white’s together ready to take them to a machine when he glanced up and observed the two for a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, a massive welcome to the next chapter!! For those reading and taking the time to leave comments, we greatly appreciate it!! 
> 
> Just a reminder as well about our discord family!!! I aint going to link it in every chapter and annoy you all... but just to remind you we do have a discord family, a Bleach podcast and so much more happening on the lead-up to the anime coming back! So please follow us :D

Rukia had fallen asleep with her mobile in her hand and it took her a moment in her dazed wakefulness to locate the tiny device whose alarm was blaring around the room. She found it tangled in her bed sheets and turned it off, yawning loudly. Today was a practice day at the rink, it was the figure skaters turn for the venue since the Hockey players and speed skaters had already had theirs.

In the morning all the skaters would be sharing the rink, around six of them on at a time, but after lunch she had a private hour. It wasn’t much, but it was something. She felt her stomach contort at the thought of having to explain Toshiro’s arrival to Byakuya.

Rukia sat up and pushed her hair from her face, grimacing because she hadn’t had time for a shower last night before she’d fallen asleep. Allowing herself a chance to scroll back through her messages with Toshiro, a smile tugged at the edges of her lips when a new text message flashed up on her Whatsapp.

_Big G 06:42am_

_Dinnae you dare go off tae practice without giving me the gossip Kuchiki!_

Rukia smirked down at her tiny device and fired him a text telling him to meet her just after 7am in the hotel canteen. She slipped out of bed and jumped into the shower, tugging it down to a semi low temperature so she could get her body used to the cold for the day and shivered. When she came out she threw her hair up in a messy ponytail and collected her gear before slipping down to the breakfast buffet.

Gin was stood outside waiting on her, looking incredibly tired but beamed all the same as she approached.

‘Tell me everythin’,’ he said as soon as she approached and she rolled her eyes. He was worse than a woman. ‘How much did yeh tell him?’

‘I need food before we have this conversation,’ Rukia replied and they secured a small private table in the corner and a plate of scrambled eggs and whole-wheat toast. She told him everything that they spoke about and everything that Toshiro did to her. Gin looked impressed, his eyebrows lifting and his mouth falling open slightly.

‘Yeh never let guys go doon on yeh,’ he said and she flushed. Rukia had hoped he wouldn’t make a big deal of this but it appeared she was wrong.

‘Yes I am aware of that, I know my own rules, thank you very much.’

‘Toshiro seems tae be the exception tae ah few,’ Gin commented passively, his cup of coffee on route to his lips, he took a sip and Rukia narrowed her eyes at him. His whole body language was screaming at her that he had more to say. ‘Wha’ was it yeh said tae me aboot Rangiku givin’ me her number?’

‘Nothing,’ Rukia scowled, ‘I said nothing.’

‘Somethin’ aboot it bein’ the first step tae ah woman’s heart?’ Gin was smirking smugly at her from over the top of his coffee and she felt her cheeks going bright red.

‘I was being stupid,’ she huffed.

‘Nah ye werenae,’ he said with a soft chuckle, ‘so, in the time tha’ you an’ him have met, yeh’ve broken yer rule aboot no sleepin’ with someone who yeh fancy, yeh’ve broken the nae date rule, the nae “going doon oan me” rule, the nae givin’ yer number oot rule…’ he counted them on his fingers and she glared up at him. ‘Have ah missed any?’

‘Yes,’ Rukia mumbled, ‘the no meeting any parents rule.’

‘Yeh met his father?’ Gin asked looking shocked.

‘Not exactly…’ Rukia sighed and told him vaguely about the end of the night. He didn’t need to know about the skipping part or the fact she’d gone running back to him after getting to the elevator.

‘Oh man,’ he chuckled, ‘tha’ must have been awkward as fuck.’

‘It was,’ she groaned, her head falling into her hands. ‘But not as awkward as the conversation Toshiro had to have with him after I ran away.’

‘Yeh run awa’ far too much,’ Gin mumbled as he finished his coffee.

‘Well tell me how things went with Rangiku after we left?’ Rukia asked and he smiled sheepishly.

‘Went okay,’ he shrugged, ‘she thanked me fir the rose, we spoke aboot her heat, tha’ was it really.’ He said.

‘That was all?’ she whined, leaning across the table toward him. ‘Didn’t you invite her back to your room?’

‘Well ah didnae want tae leave Ichigo an’ Renji with naewhere tae go.’ He chuckled and she sighed, that was code for; “I didn’t have the balls.”

‘Well you better make a move on her soon, I’m pretty sure she’s expecting it.’

‘Dinnae be daft, it will take me ages tae win her over,’ Gin rolled his eyes but she didn’t feel like arguing with him, after all what did she know about the thought processes of Rangiku Matsumoto? They finished up their breakfast and thanked the staff, who were running around tidying the tables up for more people to come in, and she made her way into the lobby.

‘Ah’ll see yeh later,’ Gin called to her, they’d already agreed to go and do laundry together because they were slowly running out of things to wear. Rukia pulled her jacket on, then tossed her backpack over her shoulder and set off for the rink. The chill in the morning air was not as deeply cutting as it was in the evening. Instead it was fresh and did a number on waking her up.

Rukia would meet her brother there, opting not to walk with him, the less time spent in his company the better for her own mental health. However when she reached the rink her brother wasn’t there. She frowned as she glanced around for him before a familiar voice called out to her.

‘Rukia,’ she turned and saw Isane and her sister bounding toward her along with their coach Miyako.

‘Hello, Rukia,’ Miyako greeted, ‘I’ll be on point of contact for you today, Byakuya text me and told me to look after you, he’s not feeling well.’

Rukia blinked up at the taller women feeling mixed emotions about the news. Byakuya never ever got sick, he was like a woman in that sense that anytime he got ill he ignored it because he had far too much work to do. So hearing of how he wasn’t going to be making it to one of her Olympic practices didn’t seem to sit right. On the other hand, it meant she didn’t have to explain why Toshiro was there with his little sister, nor try and work out a way she could practice her actual routine she’d be skating for the final.

‘Is that okay?’ the Japanese coach asked timidly when Rukia hadn’t responded.

‘Yes of course, sorry,’ she said quickly, ‘I’m just surprised that he never told me himself.’

‘Apparently you never answer his calls,’ Miyako said with a smile and Rukia pursed her lips. She had no counter argument for that because that information was completely valid.

‘Are you ready Rukia?’ Kiy said with a grin, the young girl seemed to not care that she hadn’t qualified for the actual competition. She’d skated well, but she was still young and inexperienced compared to some of the talented young juniors coming up from Russia.

‘Yes I’m ready,’ she nodded and they chatted away happily as they made their way toward the ice. Thankfully they weren’t sharing ice time with the Russians and Rukia stepped out onto her blades feeling a sense of calm wash over her. It had been a couple of days since her blades had been on the ice and she hated that she couldn’t just come down and get ice time whenever she wanted.

Isane and Rukia warmed up on together while Kiy had to wait beside Miyako. As Kiyone hadn’t qualified she wouldn’t be allowed any ice practice time now until the whole of the Olympics were over. Time in the arena was hard to come by because of all the different events and with each different event the stadium’s ice had to undergo a transformation.

‘Kiy and I saw the pictures of you and Toshiro,’ Isane started and Rukia actually groaned because of course they had!

‘Not you too,’ she bent down, her hands on her legs as she glided across the ice and then just dropped into a crouch, her head in her hands which were wrapped around her legs and surprisingly still balanced on the ice.

‘Sorry,’ Isane replied and she did actually sound sorry. Isane wasn’t usually one to press and probe for gossip, it must have been her sister who had begged her to try and get the information.

‘Look we went on a date, that was it, it was no big deal.’ Rukia decided to tell the woman the truth.

‘That kind of sounds like a big deal,’ Isane said with a chuckle reaching down and gently lifting Rukia back up. The Irish girl went reluctantly. Once she was standing she stared up at Isane.

‘Nothing else happened,’ Rukia huffed.

‘Nothing?’ Isane asked with a smirk on her face.

‘Nothing.’

‘Then what’s that hickey on your neck?’ Isane asked pointing and Rukia clamped a hand over it, her eyes going wide. She’d forgotten to cover it up! Isane was laughing at her and Rukia was groaning. 

‘Okay I slept with him again,’ she hissed and Isane stopped laughing her eyebrows shooting up into her hairline.

‘Really?’ she asked curiously and Rukia nodded.

‘So you’ve been on a date with him and slept with him twice… something is going on between you two.’

‘Why does everyone think that,’ she felt her stomach lurch uncomfortably at the thought but she also felt a pang of excitement.

‘Girls,’ their coach called, ‘are you actually going to skate or are you just out on the ice for a chat?’

Happily, Rukia skated away from Isane and launched into her short programme components. Isane kept trying to make eye contact with her while she worked on her own step sequences and jumps, but Rukia had now entered her own world. The leggings she wore had pockets at the side where she slotted a tiny little ipod nano (not wanting to risk damage to her phone if she went down wrong on the ice). She played sections of her Burlesque routine and practiced her jumps until she was sweating but happy.

During her private hour practice later, she wouldn’t have to worry about practicing her short programme at all. Rukia took a deep drink from her water bottle, keeping it between her teeth as she flicked through the music on her ipod. She was an absolute sucker for Ed Sheeran and she put on one of her favourites, “Don’t” because it resonated deeply with her. Putting her water bottle down at the side, she skated back out into the left side of the rink and began to freestyle some choreography. Maybe she’d use it for her next season, she’d always loved the song.

When the music came to a halt she held a final pose panting in the middle of the ice and seeing Kiy clapping from the side, her whole face beaming at her. The next song slipped on, one Rukia hadn’t heard in a while since she’d began to really detest Kanye West but she couldn’t admit the song wasn’t a tune. She sung “Love Lockdown” as she skated over to the edge of the rink lazily and left the ice.

The last few minutes of their ice time was drawing to a close and some were desperately clinging onto it but Rukia knew better than waiting behind to be chased off by the staff. They had a tight schedule and the next lot of private rink time was about to start.

Rukia didn’t wait for Isane to catch up. Instead she made her way back to the changing rooms and did her best to freshen up without getting her hair wet. She knew she’d be back for her hour practice and couldn’t be bothered with three showers in one day.

Deciding to lunch it alone after the gym, Rukia pulled her gear on and left the rest of it in the locker since she would be returning. She made her way back to the main part of the village and veered off in the direction of the gym. With the Olympics on all the televisions she plugged her headphones into the sound system of a treadmill and went for a light jog while watching the qualifying rounds for the curling.

Ireland didn’t have a curling team competition so she found herself rooting for the Japanese and British teams. The British actually had a fantastic woman's team who were pulling out the stops to make their way up the tournament table. The Japanese team on the other-hand were ruthless and clinging to one of the top spots.

After a 45 minute run, she cooled off with some stretches and just a few weights, squats and lunges not doing anything too taxing because she knew she’d be returning to the rink for practice. It wasn’t until Rukia was sitting in the lunch hall eating her food that she realised she probably should shower again before Toshiro came to visit her at the rink with his sister.

Rukia had run away from him after winning her short programme because she’d looked a dishevelled mess but equally… he’d seen her covered in sweat before so what did it matter? Her fork paused in her mouth and her eyes narrowed, if she went and had a shower before her practice that was just prove that she was trying to impress him… and the only person she was here to impress were the judges on the Olympic scoring panel. Swallowing down a large portion of her lean grilled steak she took a quick swig of juice. She would not shower, she didn’t care.

Rukia made her way back to the rink early so she’d have her full time out on the rink, Toshiro and Yuzu were only going to be arriving for her last 20 minutes of practice meaning she had the rest of the time to work on her routine.

Miyako was there dutifully as she said she would be, when Rukia approached her she smiled but it was more of a grimace.

‘What’s wrong?’ Rukia asked with a frown and the coach shook her head.

‘Apparently some of the Russian girls teased Isane when she was leaving, she’s not taken it well,’ Rukia sighed at the news but it didn’t come as a surprise to her. Isane was very easily thrown off balance emotionally, which was a shame because half the battle of a figure skater was their mind set.

‘Look Miyako,’ she started, ‘I can manage my own practice, honestly, I know my routines and I can handle myself.’

‘Someone should be here in case you have an accident though,’ she said and Rukia pointed to the far corner where some Olympic officials were putting stands up and directing spare seats. The rink was never ever going to fully empty, it was the Olympics after all.

‘I’ll be fine,’ Rukia said with a smile, ‘besides I have some friends coming halfway through anyway if I fall they’ll keep an eye on me.’

‘Is this Gin or is this the white haired snowboarder I’ve been hearing all about from Kiy?’ the coach chuckled.

‘Not you too,’ Rukia groaned, pink dusting her cheeks as the woman only laughed harder.

‘I’m only teasing you, if you need me at all call Isane and we will both come down to the rink for anything you understand?’ she said and Rukia nodded with a smile. The woman took her leave after that and Rukia stepped out onto the ice just as one of the American figure skaters stepped off and disappeared with her coach through the back.

Rukia skated out into the middle of the rink, not wasting even a second and quickly set the song on repeat. The harsh opening beats sounded and Rukia was off, she landed her first attempt at the quad Lutz and felt the exhilaration pound through her as she launched into her step sequences.

Back to back she did her routine, taking time in between for a quick breather and guzzling her water. The quad Lutz soon became impossible, after her second run through of her programme she’d started falling on it as the exhaustion set in. Lifting it from her routine and spotting the jump instead she focused more on her other choreography and spins.

After the fifth run-through of her routine there was loud clapping from the edge of the rink and she burled around to see Toshiro and Yuzu with an official looking security guard who was calling something she couldn’t hear. Pulling her headphones out her ears she heard Yuzu’s frantic clapping much louder as she skated over to the edge of the rink.

‘These two said they’re allowed here for your practice?’ he quirked a brow and Rukia nodded.

‘Yeah they are,’ she replied and he didn’t seem to care much more after that, simply shrugging and walking away. Rukia was pleased to see that Toshiro had managed to get himself a pair of rental skates and that made a flutter of excitement go through her. She smirked at him and held the barrier open, she’d never seen him on the ice before. Yuzu stepped out effortlessly and skated around her.

‘Oh my gosh that was amazing, what routine was that though I don’t think I’ve seen that one before is that one you were working on for next season or was that you just free styling something for practice?’ the girl seemed to catch herself and blushed furiously as Rukia chuckled at her, she really was adorable. Toshiro was eyeing the ice apprehensively.

‘It’s been a while,’ he stated apprehensively and the quiver in his voice only made Rukia smirk wider, pushing her sweaty bangs from her face as he stepped out. He held onto the side of the rink for a moment before he seemed to relax back into the feel of it. His feet were shaky and his footwork was clumsy but then Rukia reminded herself patiently, this wasn’t where his grace lay.

Deciding it was safer he simply continued to hold onto the side and when Rukia and Yuzu giggled at him he turned around trying to look cool and leaned against it.

‘I’m fine here,’ Toshiro said and the two girls burst out laughing. He had clearly said it for comedic effect as much as he was being serious and grinned as the two of them laughed.

Rukia felt that weird fluttering feeling through her chest again, it resided in her stomach and clenched at her throat too but it wasn’t a threatening feeling. It was the same feeling she had after landing a particularly hard jump, it felt like she was flying.

‘Yuzu,’ she said as she eyed the way Toshiro was leaning against the edge of the rink.

‘Yeah?’ the girl’s voice was high with excitement and Rukia tore her eyes away from Toshiro for a second to glance at her.

‘Can you turn around for a minute, I don’t think you want to see what I’m about to do to your big brother,’ she smirked and behind her she heard Toshiro choke. Yuzu was old enough though and the girl only giggled, Rukia sending her a private wink before the blonde turned her back on them. When Rukia turned around Toshiro had a beautiful blush across his face, eyeing his sister apprehensively like he didn’t expect her back to remain turned.

Rukia soon became his focus though when she skated over and stopped in front of him, her legs on either side of his own.

‘Hi,’ she mumbled, only a little embarrassed by how sweaty she was but not really caring because his eyes were alight, his lips tugged up at the corner with those beautiful dimples on show.

‘Hello,’ he mumbled back his eyes fluttering shut as she closed the distance between them. Their lips met in a soft press at first, tentative as if remembering there were other people present but then the thoughts started to drift from her mind at the familiarity in his taste. It was something she’d never experienced before, she’d never kissed someone knowing how they were going to move their lips, knowing how they were going to stroke her tongue with their own, knowing just when too much tongue was too much or not enough. His smell and taste, everything about him, including the way one of his arms wrapped securely around her waist. Everything was familiar.

She could feel his smile on his lips when she pulled back but didn’t pull away, instead she tilted her head to the other side, her hand wrapping around his neck and grinned back into the next kiss. Rukia realised with a jolt in her stomach that kissing him wasn’t just familiar… it was fun. Upon the realisation she deepened the kiss, trying to drag more of his flavour into her mouth in a style that was more comforting to her, in a way that she knew.

When she finally pulled back Toshiro was flushed and panting and she quickly swiped at his bottom lip with her thumb. He leaned into the touch and then a bright blush blossomed over his cheeks.

‘Stay there for a moment,’ he said huskily and adjusted his trousers. One glance down told her what was _up._ She pursed her lips and tried not to giggle at him, but stayed dutifully in front of him, blocking his sister’s view so if she did turn around then she wouldn’t see anything.

‘Think about something else,’ Rukia said in a very quiet whisper.

‘I’m trying,’ he was glancing over at the stands of the rink, the blush deepening on his face as she continued to giggle at him.

‘Are you two not done yet?’ Yuzu called and Toshiro squeaked.

‘No,’ he said quickly and Rukia had to lean her forehead against his shoulder so she didn’t laugh in his face.

‘Think of your Dad’s toenails,’ she whispered at him. Toshiro made a gagging noise and when she looked back up at him he was grimacing.

‘Yes you can turn around now, Yuzu,’ he said and Rukia skated away from him with a laugh.

‘That was the longest minute ever,’ Yuzu was rolling her eyes but she looked really pleased about the situation.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting,’ Rukia said as she skated over to the young girl, ‘Toshiro said you’re having trouble landing your triple Lutz?’ she asked.

‘Yeah,’ Yuzu nodded.

‘Show me,’ Rukia said and Yuzu set off quickly across the ice. Rukia followed, staying out of her way but close enough that she could easily spot the mistake. Yuzu kicked off and made the rotations but upon landing her free leg caught the ice and that’s when she went tumbling down.

‘Are you okay?’ Toshiro called across the rink, it looked like he was trying to use the side of the barrier to get himself closer to where the girls were at the opposite end of the rink.

‘She’s fine.’

‘I’m fine!’

They called back at the same time. Figure skating jumps looked painful but she knew that Toshiro was an athlete, sometimes a fall looked worse than it was if the athlete was able to catch themselves and fall safely. Yuzu had done just that and it seemed to be enough to relax Toshiro who still trying to make his way toward them, but with less haste. Resisting the urge to tease him about his speed Rukia launched straight into coach mode.

‘You don’t have enough height,’ she said quickly, ‘you need half a foot more at least if you want to get your free leg clear of your landing.’

It was true more height in the air left a lot more time for a landing. There was more she could do, a tighter form would make for faster turns and would mean the few milliseconds spare could also help her clear a landing.

‘So more height?’ Yuzu asked looking a little crestfallen like this was the answer she was dreading.

‘Yes, but it all comes from the kick off, you need to dig your toe pick in deep before you launch, I know it’s tricky because you’re on an unnatural edge going in,’ she explained, it’s why the jump was one of the most difficult to do. ‘You hesitate before you even launch yourself,’ Rukia was replaying the seconds leading up to the girls jump in her mind.

‘I know,’ Yuzu said with a sigh, ‘I just, I’ve never been able to land it.’

‘Do a double,’ Rukia instructed, ‘and try and get as much height on it as you can.’

‘But I’ll over rotate?’ she said quickly and Rukia nodded.

‘That’s fine, I just want to see your height.’

The girl set off across the ice and Rukia skated lazily alongside her, watching as she launched into it and did over rotate.

‘Again,’ Rukia drilled and Yuzu was made to do the jump a few more times with Rukia calling for more height, more speed leading into it. Finally she was happy with a final attempt that saw her over rotate so bad she almost fell on the landing.

‘Good, see that,’ she said, waving her hand to where she’d just made the jump, ‘that exact speed, that exact height, three rotations, go,’ Yuzu’s eyes went wide but she nodded, determined now and set off along the ice. Toshiro who had managed to work his way down their end of the rink was annoyed that he needed to make his way back and Rukia smirked at him for a second before her eyes came back to Yuzu. She dug in her pick, launched herself, three full rotations and…

There was a thud as she landed, only wavering for balance and a hand almost grazing the ice. There was a beats silence and then she squealed with delight.

‘Well done,’ Rukia smirked at her.

‘Oh my gosh that felt amazing, you’ve no idea how long I’ve been struggling with that,’ she called skating around Rukia and looking delighted with herself. ‘Toshiro did you see me!’

‘I saw you,’ he called with a cheer, still keeping one hand on the side of the barrier.

‘Thank you so much,’ Yuzu said turning her wide eyes to Rukia and looking gratefully down at her.

‘Don’t mention it,’ she smirked up at the girl before turning about to say something to Toshiro who had almost done an entire lap around the perimeter of the rink to get to them when she was interrupted.

‘Would-you-show-me-the-quad-Lutz?’ Yuzu asked in a gush and Rukia froze.

‘Is it no secret?’ Rukia said quickly with a soft smile on her face.

‘I just guessed,’ her eyes were twinkling and Rukia pursed her lips, it was true there had been rumours around various fan sources that Rukia was working on the jump. Toshiro finally reached them and grinned.

‘What are you two talking about?’ he asked casually from his place at the side.

‘Yuzu wants me to attempt a quad Lutz,’ she chuckled and Toshiro turned to her with a slightly confused look.

‘I thought you were working on the triple?’ he asked.

‘You’ve not told him?’ Yuzu looked shocked and Rukia started, a blush ghosting over her cheekbones.

‘He’s your brother!’

‘He’s your bo-’ Yuzu choked on what she had been about to say and Rukia turned to see Toshiro sending her a quick gesture.

‘What is the quad lutz then?’ he asked. Rukia turned to him and took a deep breath, it was weird talking about it to someone who wasn’t Gin or Byakuya.

‘It’s the same jump as Yuzu just did,’ Rukia started to explain.

‘But with four rotations,’ Toshiro nodded, ‘yeah I got that part, is it hard to do? Has it been done before?’ he asked and Rukia smirked. The athlete part of him was shining through and _fuck_ was it sexy.

‘Never been done by a woman,’ Rukia explained, ‘quad jumps are generally only done by male athletes.’

‘Except more and more women are doing quads,’ Yuzu rushed to explain, ‘there have been a couple now who have done the quad toe loop and even the Salchow, but no woman has ever landed the quad Lutz before.’

Toshiro’s eyes flickered to Rukia and he raised a brow.

‘You’re going to be the first.’ He didn’t ask it and the corner of Rukia’s mouth twitched.

‘Yeah I am,’ she replied.

‘She’s mental,’ Yuzu gushed, ‘it’s the second hardest jump next to the Axel, most of the men can’t even do it, it’s so difficult because of the entry. Please will you show me it?’ she asked again.

‘I,’ Rukia glanced around the rink, ‘I can’t land it consistently.’

Yuzu squealed in response to this information because it clearly confirmed all her suspicions.

‘And I can never land it when I’m this exhausted,’ she said, but she could feel Toshiro’s gaze on her and she swallowed, ‘but maybe…’

Deciding to give it a go she set off at a backward skate, gathering speed. Rukia skated a loop around the ice so she’d be close to them when she attempted it. Her left foot glided on the outside edge of her blade. Her right foot extended out behind her, then, with as much speed and strength as she could, her free leg cut down into the ice launching her into the air. One, two, three, four rotations counted and her blade connected harshly with the ice, her free leg swinging clear of her landing and her arms out wide catching her balance. A thrill shot through her and she heard Yuzu’s excited cries from her left. Rukia skated in a circle, her hand coming to her mouth and a frown etched onto her face. She could hear Toshiro and Yuzu both clapping but she was too busy focusing.

That had been the first time she’d ever landed the jump when she’d been this exhausted, normally it was impossible… so what had changed? It felt like something had given her strength.

Someone was shouting something to her Rukia wasn’t sure if it was Toshiro or Yuzu but she was still frowning, skating a lazy circle with one blade on the ice. Something had shifted, something was different. She felt different. Without a word to them she turned and started skating again, this time not worrying too much about her positioning she turned ready for the quad again halfway down the rink, trying to feel every single second of it.

Outside edge, right foot extended, slashing the air and cutting the ice deep the same feeling of elevation she’d been feeling fluctuating in her over the last 48 hours was released and this time she’d barely understood what was happening, the whole process going automatically as she landed, her free foot pulling free.

Rukia skidded to a halt close to Toshiro and Yuzu who were clapping again. Toshiro was looking smug as he smirked at her.

‘You’re going to land that no problem in competition,’ he said and Rukia continued to frown. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she glanced up the rink the frown still etched into her face. She’d never wanted her coach more than she did in that moment, Byakuya would be able to explain whatever the hell had just happened.

‘You skate with your emotions,’ Yuzu beamed at her and Rukia blinked at the girl. On her blades Yuzu was just a couple of inches taller than her. ‘Just like me, if you’re feeling elevated you can land all your jumps but if you’re feeling nervous or anxious you fall. But you’ve not fallen in ages.’ Yuzu smirked and Rukia had to wonder just how big a fan the girl was to even know that kind of information. It had maybe been a few months since she’d gone down hard on the ice in front of cameras and a live audience but she did often step out of jumps or touch a hand down.

‘I have no idea what’s causing me to feel elevated today though,’ Rukia replied with a frown.

‘I bet I know,’ Yuzu said with a sly smirk but she said no more than that as Rukia glanced across the ice. She had a feeling she knew what the blonde girl would have said and exactly who she was looking at. Rukia refused to look at them though, she could feel heat blossoming in her cheeks at the younger skaters suggestion… _was_ it Toshiro? That just seemed completely insane… but then so was throwing yourself out of an aeroplane on the first date… and denying her sex.

There was no doubt about it, Toshiro was different and that thought terrified her.

‘What was the routine you were doing when we came in?’ Yuzu was suddenly asking and Rukia finally turned back to them, picking her foot up off the ice to dust ice shavings off the blade while keeping herself balanced with her other blade.

Rukia contemplated her answer probably for a little while longer than she needed too. She didn’t want anyone to know. She wanted to unveil the surprise at the Olympic event, mostly because she was worried about expectations… if they expected her to do it, she’d have to commit… there would be no falling back on her Carmen routine if she chickened out.

It hit her then, that Carmen had always been her backup, her safety net. Everyone except Gin would be expecting Carmen, so there would be no disappointment at all. Gin was never disappointed with anyone, it wasn’t in his _soul_ to be disappointed in someone.

‘You don’t have to answer, sorry if I asked too much, I just got excited,’ Yuzu said and Rukia glanced up to see the girl looking at her with concern, worried she’d overstepped her boundaries with her hero. Rukia knew that look because she was sure she’d worn it when she was in Japan visiting Takahashi and asked him to perform his routine for her.

‘No,’ Rukia said, ‘it’s fine honestly, it’s just…’ she glanced around the rink feeling a bundle of nervous excitement bubbling in her stomach.

‘You okay?’ Toshiro asked, when she finally turned to look at him he was frowning. That beautiful furrow of concentration between his brows, a look she’d only seen on his snowboarding videos when he was about to go down the slope.

‘Yeah,’ she took a deep breath, ‘can you two keep a secret?’

‘Yes!’ Yuzu squealed right away.

‘Of course,’ Toshiro seemed to have relaxed a little now but he was still watching her with a deeply contemplative look in his eyes.

Rukia fiddled with the hem of her Irish training jacket, tugging at the sleeves nervously before folding her arms tightly across her body.

‘Takahashi didn’t choreograph my _short_ programme,’ she said quietly. Yuzu’s mouth fell open, the younger girl understanding instantly what that meant. Toshiro’s brow furrowed more clearly trying to connect all the dots from the little he knew of figure skating and the little he’d learned about Rukia from their time together.

‘Oh my gosh,’ Yuzu said, her hand clamping over her mouth, ‘he choreographed your _free?_ And you’re going to be skating that routine in the final?’

‘Yeah,’ Rukia agreed and Toshiro’s eyebrows shot up, now fully understanding.

‘Isn’t that risky?’ he asked, he looked like he was trying to compare it to his own sport. Rukia didn’t know that much about snowboarding but if she had to make the comparison surely it would be like someone going into the half pipe doing a bunch of tricks they’d not properly planned out and a new jump they’d barely been landing… yeah it was risky.

‘It’s completely insane,’ Yuzu said quickly, ‘a whole new routine, only you and your coach know?’ she asked turning back.

‘Ah well,’ Rukia winced and went on to explain that actually Byakuya didn’t know, which was why she’d been practicing the routine before they’d arrived.

‘And we’ve taken up your practice time,’ Toshiro said looking guilty, as did Yuzu, ‘sorry about that!’

‘No don’t be,’ she said with a soft smile, ‘I’d have said no if it was a concern, but without you two here I wouldn’t have learned something new about my quad today.’

Yuzu looked like she’d been about to ask another question but just then Miyako and Isane had entered the rink and were shouting over to her. Rukia turned around and grinned, Isane’s hour of practice time was right after hers.

‘We need to clear off the ice,’ Rukia said to Yuzu and Toshiro. Yuzu headed for the entrance right away but Toshiro still had a bit to go, he clung onto the wall. Rukia reached out her arms for him and he looked at her apprehensively, like he both did, and didn’t, want to go with her.

‘“Do you trust me?”’ Rukia asked, quoting exactly what he’d said to her the evening before. Toshiro made a face of slight concern before he pushed himself from the wall and she caught him, giggling a little at the rather helpless look that flashed on his face for a second as she began to pull him toward the exit.

‘I dunno how you guys do this,’ he said sharply and she just laughed. Rukia kept her arms close to him and he clung on desperately. She could feel the gaze of Isane and Miyako boring into the side of her face and waited until they were all within earshot before she made her next comment.

‘Jeez Toshiro,’ Rukia said with a sly smirk that had his face going blank with worry, ‘you didn’t cling onto me this much during sex.’

The effect was immediate, Rukia only just barely caught him as he stumbled at the exit, laughing hysterically at the bright red blush that blossomed on his face. That had been incredibly cruel especially with his baby sister sitting there but she couldn’t help it. Hearing giggling behind her she turned to see Kiy beside herself with delight at the comment and Isane only looking a little embarrassed on Toshiro’s behalf.

‘Rukia,’ he groaned steadying himself enough to get over to the seat as Rukia exited the ice and slipped her skate guards on. Toshiro had started to pull the laces apart on his rentals and tugged them off his feet, looking a little relieved to be rid of them. Rukia couldn’t blame him, rentals weren’t a pleasant experience for anyone, especially for athletes used to their own boots.

‘What?’ she asked innocently gazing down at him as he shot her a glare. The red was still on his cheeks and she smirked devilishly at him.

‘It’s not like I didn’t know you’d slept together,’ Yuzu said rolling her eyes.

‘Did you know we’ve slept together twice?’ Rukia asked innocently.

‘RUKIA!’

‘WHAT!?’

Yuzu was looking at Toshiro, her eyes wide with shock and Toshiro was just staring at Rukia, his face bright red and looking more than mortified.

‘What?’ Rukia asked again, innocently.

‘Would you please stop telling my baby sister about our sex life,’ he said glaring up at her. She leaned casually against the barrier as Miyako instructed Isane to get on the ice. “Our sex life” his words send a flash down her spine, it was odd to think that she had an active sex life with anyone because it was something she’d never experienced before. The way he said it made it sound so resolute, like he’d made up his mind that she was the only person he was going to be having sex with at the Olympics. The thought of him sleeping with someone else hadn’t even crossed her mind before and as it did it sent a red hot feeling through her body that she’d only ever experienced once before.

_Jealousy._

The last time she’d felt it, it was when Gin had started to spend more time with his girlfriend instead of her. This time it felt different though. A little more possessive than it did before. The thought of another girl sitting on that thick cock of his, exploring his tattoos, grasping at his naked skin, was enough for Rukia to clench her jaw and make her determined that while at the Olympics he’d sleep with no one else.

‘It’s not like I gave her any details,’ Rukia rolled her eyes, a soft smile tugging at her lips as Yuzu looked desperate for those details and Rukia noticed that Kiy was hanging close by the barrier for any information she could get too.

‘I can’t believe this,’ Yuzu said, ‘when were you planning on telling me?’

Toshiro looked very uncomfortable.

Her work was done. She smirked and decided to break the moment up so Toshiro didn’t have to answer her right away.

‘Your triple lutz looks good Yuzu, make sure you practice it more though before putting it in a competition,’ she instructed and it was enough to draw the heat away from Toshiro for a moment as he slipped his snow shoes back on.

‘Thank you Rukia,’ she said gratefully, ‘thank you so much and thank you for letting us come to your private practice.’

A small smile appeared on Rukia’s face at the genuine emotions in the young girl’s voice.

‘You’re welcome,’ she said, ‘I won’t be walking back with you two though because I want to stay and watch Isane’s practice.’

She’d already decided she wanted to spend some time with her friend at her personal practice before coming to the rink and she didn’t intent to leave yet.

‘That’s okay we have to go anyway,’ Toshiro said picking his things up, the blush on his face had calmed down a bit but he now looked like he was desperate to take his little sister away from Rukia and spare her poor not-so-innocent ears the details of exactly how talented her brother’s tongue was.

Rukia smirked as they both stood up to leave. Toshiro was looking at Rukia like he was warning her.

“Don’t do it” his gaze was screaming at her as they turned to leave.

‘Have a good day,’ she called to them waving enthusiastically, ‘you’ve got a very _talented_ brother there Yuzu.’

She said no more than that, but noticed the little missed step Toshiro took walking down the hall away from the rink.

‘You’re cruel,’ Kiy said and as Rukia turned to the small girl she was looking at her like Rukia was the most evil person she’d ever seen. Mimicking Kiy’s smirk, Rukia leaned over the barrier to the rink and watched as Isane worked through her free skate.

They said nothing more to each other, but simply watched the graceful elegance of Isane’s skating. Here away from the cameras, the Russians and the pressure, Isane was easily one of the best. With just an extra bit of practice, lifting her arms above her head for more points on her jumps, Rukia was sure she could even give Rukia a run for her money.

Her challenge was her mind set, Isane was always a very sensitive person. It made her the perfect candidate for a friend, a sister, a lover… but not very strong as a competitor.

‘I wish she’d skate like this in the final,’ Rukia breathed, watching as she landed a perfect double axel straight from a spread eagle.

‘Me too,’ Kiy said, her chin resting on her arms which were folded in her jacket on the barrier. Miyako was giving good pointers on improvement for her step sequences, calling them out across the ice as Rukia and Kiy watched on.

‘So how long have you and Toshiro been dating?’ she asked casually and a smirk formed on Rukia’s lips wondering just how long the girl had been _dying_ to ask that question.

‘We’re not, I told you, you’d both be the first to know.’ She said, ‘other than Gin of course.’

‘But you’ve slept with him?’ she prodded.

‘Yes, but it’s just sex Kiy.’ Rukia said with an eye roll, ‘you’ve had sex right?’

‘Of course,’ the younger girl said, a blush forming on her face and her eyes darting in a way that made Rukia believe that she hadn’t really had sex but was just saying that to sound much more mature.

‘Yes well, sex doesn’t mean we’re dating,’ Rukia chuckled.

‘But I thought dating meant you were dating?’ she pointed out smoothly, ‘didn’t he take you on a date?’

‘Yes,’ Rukia felt that familiar feeling of heat creeping up her neck and out along her cheekbones without her consent. ‘But that was a dare.’

‘You seem to have a lot of excuses Rukia,’ this time it hadn’t come from Kiy but from Miyako who hadn’t even turned around but was clearly still listening to their conversation. Her eyes were firmly planted on Isane who was currently in the middle of a very well executed camel spin. ‘If you like spending time with him, why does it need to be a dare or just sex that brings you together?’

This was why Rukia hated coaches. They asked you awkward questions that really made you challenge the way you thought about things. With a deep sigh, Rukia mirrored Kiy, putting her chin on her folded arms as she stared out across the ice at Isane.

She needed an excuse because the thought of not having one, meant she was doing everything because she wanted too, which meant feelings.

It was such a terrifying thought that she beat it down and decided it best not to answer the coaches question at all. Miyako didn’t press her for an answer and it seemed only Kiy was disappointed with the lack of verbal return.

Isane’s hour soon came to an end, just in time as one of the Russian athletes came out towards the rink. One quick glance had Isane paling but Nozomi had failed to beat her score in the free skate of the heats, so she said nothing as they passed by each other. Isane relaxed instantly once the Russian was away from her and Rukia sighed. This was Isane’s biggest battle.

The Japanese girl was showered with praise from all three of them though as they made their way back to the women’s changing area. Rukia was then invited to dinner but she decided against it, figuring it was best for her to actually go and stop by her brothers’ room to try and find out what was going on with him.

Having her second shower of the day Rukia threw her hair back up in a messy bun before exiting the rink, this time laden down with all her skating gear. She would be meeting Gin to do laundry in the evening and she wanted to speak to her brother and grab food before then. Covering her damp hair as best she could with a hat and her hood to protect it against the elements, she made her way back to the hotel.

Dumping her stuff in her room she set about making a bag of all her training gear, underwear, socks and bra’s that needed a good wash before making her way down the corridor to her brothers room. She knocked on the door.

No answer.

Rukia frowned and knocked again.

Still no answer.

So she did the annoying thing she used to do as a child and kept knocking and kept knocking. If he was inside she’d piss him off enough to finally answer… even if it were a suite he’d surely hear the constant noise.

But still, Byakuya did not answer the door. Ukitake stuck his head out of the room though to see what was going on.

‘Byakuya had to leave to visit the pharmacy in town Rukia,’ he said when he spotted her. Rukia turned and frowned, something felt off, something was wrong.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ she asked carefully.

‘Nothing,’ Ukitake’s smile made her relax, he wouldn’t be smiling that blindingly if it were anything too serious. ‘He caught a cold or and he’s just needing another prescription of his inhaler that’s all.’

‘Oh,’ Rukia was sure they had pharmacy specialists in the village but then again she wasn’t sure if that was just for the athletes, ‘okay, any idea when he’ll be back?’

‘I don’t know, he’s text to say he won’t be too long but he was looking very tired when I last saw him and wants to be in the best shape possible for your final event.’ The older man explained to her, ‘so he might just go straight to bed when he comes back. I’m sure he will come and find you tomorrow if he’s feeling a little better, he doesn’t want to risk you catching it.’

‘That’s true,’ Rukia winced, she’d skated ill before… every athlete had done their chosen sport ill before and it was never a fun experience. With one final glance back at his door, Rukia sent him a get well soon text, as well as a detailed report on her practice session. She decided to leave out the part of Toshiro and Yuzu being there though, she didn’t think he’d fully understand unless she spoke to him in person about it.

After grabbing some food, Rukia made her way back to her room to collect her washing bag and fired Gin a text to meet her in the lobby so they could go and do laundry together. It would involve a bit of sitting around, the machines apparently had twenty minute cycles on them, so her three wash loads wouldn’t take longer than an hour and a half to have washed and dried. Spending the time with Gin would make it fly by, especially if he decided to sit on top of the machines and try and sing again like he’d done at the previous Olympics.

The thought had her smiling when she spotted Gin in the lobby, his bag slung over his shoulder and bobbing his head to whatever crap music was blaring in his ears as she approached him.

‘How did practice go?’ he asked with a smirk.

‘Very well,’ Rukia grinned, ‘but I suppose you want to hear about how things went with Toshiro and Yuzu more than my actual practice?’

‘Yeh ken me too well,’ he sighed blissfully.

With a giggle, she filled Gin in, steering clear of what coach Miyako had pointed out and instead focusing more on the teasing she’d done with Toshiro and his sister.

‘Yer ah wicked woman, Kuchiki,’ he said smoothly as they made their way out toward the other hotel. The other hotel was slightly larger, the basement of it had been turned into the laundry room for the athletes as instructed in their welcome pack. Gin caught her up on the competition he was expecting to face out on the slopes later that day.

Gin was strange when it came to competition… when it came to a lot of things, actually. He had a completely different outlook. He didn’t have the same drive as a lot of athletes who wanted the gold, instead each time he went out it was with the understanding that he only needed to be better than the version of himself when he rode before. Rukia was sure that if Gin just got a bit more competitive edge to his personality then he’d likely do much better in his field.

‘It will be between Ggio, Coyote an’ Ulquiorra fir gold fir sure,’ he said waving his hand and Rukia laughed.

‘What about you?’ she asked.

‘Well, ah’m gonnae dae better than eight, this time,’ he grinned down at her and she rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.

‘You know how you get annoyed with my lack of drive toward relationships?’ she asked and watched him eye her curiously as if he didn’t know where she was taking this conversation, ‘that’s how I feel about you when you talk about your competition.’

Gin was laughing heartily at that as they made their way down the stairs to the laundry room. It was a large space with a concrete floor, folded chairs with uncomfortable looking squishy pillows attached to them were in the centre along with long tables for sorting out the clothing. At the back the tiny thin windows at the tops of the walls were opened allowing some air flow into the room and a large extractor fan could be heard turning away in the corner. Around the external walls were a number of industrial washers and driers set up next to each other. A couple of athletes littered the room, but only two caught their eyes.

‘Well, ah didnae know this was where all the cool people came tae hing oot,’ he said with a chuckle as soon as they made their way over. Long flowing red hair had caught both their eyes and at Gin’s voice, Rangiku turned around. She’d been in mid conversation with Toshiro who was holding up two articles of clothing and frowning up at her. As soon as Rangiku’s attention was on Gin, her face split into a massive smile, her eyes flickering between him and Rukia and back again.

She said something to Gin who had broken away, walking around a table to join her at the other side while Rukia studied Toshiro. He looked embarrassed about something and Rukia had to wonder if it was because they were about to get personal with each other’s’ underwear and sweaty clothing… but why would that matter when they’d literally been removing it off each other previously? She eyed the tank top in his hands and her eyebrows rose. Rukia had not seen him in one of those yet, judging by the style it was likely something that he wore while at the gym.

That was an alluring thought; Toshiro Shiba at the gym.

Deciding that would probably be the image that would help her get to sleep that night she grinned up at him as she dumped her bag down on the table beside his, making it very clear that they were going to be getting through this mundane journey together while Gin and Rangiku chatted away happily to their side.

‘What’s up Shiba?’ Rukia drawled watching as he quickly dropped his sweaty tank top. ‘Don’t know how to do laundry?’

They seemed to call it laundry everywhere else in the world, so she went with that term.

‘Ah, no,’ Toshiro said raising a hand and running it through his hair in embarrassment, a bright blush blossoming on his face. Rukia laughed, then realised he was serious and choked.

‘What? Really?’ her mouth fell open in shock.

‘No,’ he shrugged, ‘I live with Rangiku, she does the laundry, I do the cooking.’

‘Oh,’ Rukia said her eyes flickering between him and the stunning red haired woman who was now leaning across the table into Gin’s space as they chatted about something. ‘I didn’t realise things between you two were that serious.’ She smirked at him and he just rolled his eyes.

‘Very funny,’ he replied.

‘Can we expect wedding invitations? Will you be getting the date tattooed on your ass too?’ Rukia continued to tease and it was with satisfaction that she saw him beginning to smirk, picking up on her sarcastic banter.

‘No actually, we were going to wait to propose to each other in front of world after we both win gold medals.’

Rukia laughed and Toshiro smiled looking pleased with himself. In Rukia’s mind, if he could have that level of witty sarcastic banter, then he was worth helping. She waved a hand for him to pass his bag across to her. Toshiro slid the bag over the surface and walked around from the other side of the table to stand beside her as she began pulling his things out of his bag and sorting it.

‘These machines might not let us wash at 20,’ Rukia explained, ‘which is a cool wash, which means colours will likely run so you want to separate them by colour.’ She started making a pile for his blacks, then a pile for his whites and his colours. Next to his jeans and shirts and Aussie wear the colours and the white pile were the largest. Catching on Toshiro started to pull things out of his bag and started tossing them down into piles. As he removed an Australian jumper and dumped it down into the whites, she spotted something that made her giggle.

‘Not sure which pile these would fall under,’ Rukia said pulling out a pair of very cute Christmas boxers. They were mostly green with a gold caption reading “what the elf” on the left side of the bum. They looked like a pair of shorts elves would wear, the legs stripped red and green and a fake black belt buckle printed on the top of them. Instantly his face went red and he quickly pulled them out of her hands and dumped them down with the coloured clothes.

‘Probably the same pile as those,’ Toshiro nodded into her bag where a pair of lacy black and red pants laid on top of her workout clothes. With a smirk she pulled them out and held them up.

‘Well what pile would you put them in?’ Rukia asked curiously and he looked like he was about to die, considering she was holding them rather close to his face. Rukia had since come to love the colour red on his cheeks, it brought out the teal in his large eyes and made his hair seem ten times whiter, like freshly fallen snow.

‘I don’t know,’ Toshiro replied, looking like he was focusing intently on his own pile while doing his best to ignore just how close to his face her underwear was, ‘with the darks?’

She smirked and tossed them down into his darks pile and he dropped his head in his hands in exasperation causing her to laugh. Rukia went back to sorting her own stuff out after that since it looked like Toshiro was mostly done and found herself distracted by Gin and Rangiku.

Rangiku was leaning across the table at Gin in a very low cut top and it was clearly taking every bit of self-control for Gin to keep his eyes on her face. Rukia wanted to applaud his efforts because as soon as Rukia had glanced over her eyes were instantly drawn to Rangiku’s rather large bust. For an athlete she was very well endowed but then again Rukia had already seen that on her Instagram page.

‘Rangiku, if you lean any further over you’re going to be motor-boating him,’ Rukia said quickly causing the strawberry blonde women to giggle and pull back. Gin relaxed after that, but the look in Rangiku’s eyes told Rukia that maybe she’d been doing it on purpose because she’d wanted to get a reaction from him.

Rangiku then proceeded to pull out as many articles of underwear as she could to make a ‘delicates’ pile even though they could turn down the settings on these machines. Gin was very obviously trying to talk to her about the event he was facing that day while she questioned him but his eyes were flickering to what she was holding in her hands.

‘Is she flirting?’ Rukia asked Toshiro under her breath. The handsome Aussie man had started pulling his pile of white’s together ready to take them to a machine when he glanced up and observed the two for a moment.

‘Yeah I think she is,’ he said after a while. When Rukia turned to Toshiro he looked torn between amusement and something else… protectiveness maybe? It made sense, he had two baby sisters who he was always trying to protect… his mother had passed away, it would be a very natural instinct for him to want to protect the females closest to him, Rukia thought. After a moment she tore her eyes away because looking at him too long just made her want to kiss him and that was a dangerous thought.

They gathered up a washing pile each and made their way over to the side tossing them into two separate machines. Rukia spoke him through the dials and settings and they threw their tablets into the machines and switched them on at the same time. Gin and Rangiku seemed to have calmed down the flirting now, though Gin’s version of flirting involved getting really tongue tied when he was too close in proximity to her. Rukia thought about the kalms pills she had upstairs and how she wished she’d brought them with her…

Next time, next time that she knew they’d maybe run into Rangiku she’d give Gin one. Though it maybe wouldn’t have been a good idea for him to take one today with his heat coming up in a couple of hours.

‘Thank you,’ Rukia was thrown from her stupor as she turned to Toshiro who had spoken. He was watching Rangiku and Gin as well. ‘Thank you for today, Yuzu was over the moon and I just wanted to say it meant a lot to me for you to do it.’

Rukia relaxed and smiled at him, ‘you’re welcome.’

Thankfully Gin and Rangiku broke whatever strange tension suddenly fell over them in that moment by coming over and loading up their own machines. Rukia laughed heartily when Rangiku “accidentally” dropped a pair of underwear and asked Gin if he’d get them for her. Looking the most uncomfortable he’d ever looked before he did as he was told dutifully holding them by the respectful edges and quickly tossing them in behind her other things.

‘What do you do for fun?’ Rangiku asked turning with a smile to them.

‘Ah brought cards,’ Gin said cheerfully, ‘but mostly we just sit oan the machines.’

‘What?’ Toshiro asked looking torn between confusion and amusement as he turned to look at Rukia. That playful smug look was back on his face and it was sexy, his smile tugged just high enough on his lips to allure her to those stupid adorable dimples. She rolled her eyes, mostly at her own thoughts before walking over and jumping up on the machine. Thank goodness she was an athlete because the machines came up in line with her chest and were difficult to get up onto. She turned around once her bum was firmly pressed against the vibrating surface, watching with a massive grin on her face as Gin jogged over and jumped up beside her. He had to keep his body slumped otherwise his head would be rattling off the roof and instantly Toshiro and Rangiku were laughing, pulling their phones out to either take a picture or record, Rukia wasn’t sure.

‘Dear Sir I write this note to you to tell you of my plight, for at the time of writing it, I’m not a pretty sight. My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly grey and I write this note to say why I am not at work today.’ Rukia started singing the “Sick Note” a very hilarious story song originally written by Pat Cooksey about an Irish bricklayer whose day at work doesn’t go according to plan. Singing it while sitting on a moving washing machine though, on a high spin cycle was proving hysterical and soon both Toshiro and Rangiku were laughing heartily, their phones still raised suggesting they were taking videos instead of pictures.

Gin joined in the song partway through and Rukia couldn’t even finish the song’s lyrics before she was having to dismount the machine, rubbing her ass. She noticed very briefly how Toshiro’s eyes flickered to where her hands were like he would rather be the one doing it.

‘That’s amazing,’ Rangiku was giggling as Gin slipped off, looking like he was trying to adjust his boxers and wincing.

‘Feels like my teeth were about to chatter out my head,’ Rukia mumbled. The machines shook so violently that it felt worse than sitting on one of those vibrating workout plates. Even standing firmly back on solid ground, Rukia still felt like her whole body was shaking.

Toshiro was grinning stupidly down at his phone tapping away at something and Rukia was almost tempted to look over his shoulder and see what he was about to do with that video when he asked.

‘Can I post this to my Instagram stories?’ he asked and she smiled.

‘Sure go ahead,’ Rukia shrugged her shoulders not really caring, he would likely be tagging her in it anyway. Gin leaned over Rangiku’s shoulder for a second and came out with a witty retort.

‘Ah want 50% eh the commission,’ Gin said but the little spark of confidence slipped as soon as she turned her giant baby blue eyes on him. Rukia sighed, she wished that Rangiku could see his full personality, the part of him full of witty banter and playful shenanigans all the time. Gin was playful by nature, one look at his Instagram profile would tell anyone that, and despite showing Rangiku some of that playfulness he mostly seemed to shy away from her the moment her attention was entirely focused on him.

Toshiro was pulling his whites out of the washing machine and appeared to be trying to dump it all in the dryer before Rukia caught him.

‘Hold on a moment, Snowflake,’ she said with a smirk, ‘you need to pull your cottons out, they can’t go in or they’ll shrink.’ Rukia started pulling out a couple of pieces of clothing but other than a few pair of cotton sweatpants he didn’t seem to own too much that couldn’t go into the dryer.

‘Oh,’ Toshiro said, recognition dawning on his stunning face, ‘that explains what happened to my cotton bedsheets.’

Rukia smirked up at him as he ran a hand sexily through his hair, fixing her with a slight grin but the moment was broken by Rangiku who laughed out loud. She was stood down beside Toshiro’s side of the laundry table looking gleeful.

‘Toshiro, when did you acquire these?’ she asked holding up the pair of pants that Rukia had thrown into his black’s pile. Without missing a beat Toshiro turned to his bestie.

‘They are for good luck,’ he quipped, ‘I plan on wearing them in the final.’

Gin and Rukia laughed and Toshiro winked down at her before wandering over to Rangiku and pulling the pile of darks into his arms. He made his way over to the washing machine that he’d been using and dump the clothing inside. Rukia noticed, with some satisfaction, that her pants remained part of his pile and he had no intention of removing them. He closed the door and put the same settings on as before.

‘Congratulations Shiba,’ Rukia said with a smirk, ‘you can now do your own laundry.’

‘And apparently other peoples,’ he said without missing a beat, causing Rukia to chuckle.

After a couple of rounds of snap the washing loads were done and being piled back into bags. Some of the wet clothing that couldn’t go in the dryer were being separated into bags and Rukia instructed Toshiro to hang it all up as soon as he got back to his room.

‘We better get ah move oan,’ Gin said glancing down at his watch and running a hand nervously through his hair, ‘ah have mah heat soon.’

‘Yeah I need to get a good spot in the audience,’ Rukia said with a smirk, they were making their way back up the stairs to the hotel lobby, backs laden with their washing bags.

‘Can I come too?’ Rangiku asked causing Gin to stumble up the steps and Rukia put her hands out to catch him. She caught him just above the ass and quickly retracted her hands once he was steady, it was the only damn place she could reach.

‘That should be fine right Gin?’ Rukia said with a smirk as he reached the top of the staircase, a blush blossoming over his face at the prospect of _the_ Rangiku Matsumoto coming to watch him snowboard.

‘Ah have tae board in two rounds,’ Gin rushed to explain, his eyes flicking to Rangiku’s, ‘it will be really boring an’ long.’

‘No it won’t.’

‘No it won’t.’

Both Rangiku and Rukia looked at each other with a grin, they’d both said it at the same time.

‘I’ll admit I don’t watch the cross as often as the other snowboarding events,’ Rangiku said honestly shrugging her shoulders as they gathered in the lobby ready to part ways.

‘I’ll tech you about Gin and Soi Fon’s style,’ Rukia said with a smirk to the ridiculously tall woman, ‘I’m well adverse in Gin.’

Her best friend rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath.

‘What about you bub, you going?’ Rangiku asked him and Toshiro, who had been oddly quiet, started at being addressed. He shook his head.

‘Ichigo has his final,’ he said and Rangiku made a face at him.

‘But he never goes to any of your events?’ she said firmly and Gin and Rukia exchanged a look exactly like they had done the evening in the bar when the family drama had started to unfold. It seemed that this was another layer to the cake, another layer to all the information that Rukia had been told by Toshiro about his relationship with Ichigo.

‘But he’s still my brother,’ Toshiro said firmly, his voice had an edge about it that said this wasn’t up for negotiation and Rangiku seemed to register that. Her shoulders slumped in defeat but her eyes were worriedly gazing at him, Rukia noticed with interest. Maybe she’d ask the woman about it once they were at the slopes, waiting on Gin.

‘Ah really have tae go,’ Gin said, ‘really sorry,’ he held a hand up in apology for almost cutting over Toshiro and Rangiku’s conversation before quickly turning and dashing off. Rukia didn’t blame him, she hated being in a rush just before a big event, you needed to give yourself plenty of down time and meditation before you took to your sport. He still needed to make his way back to his room, dump his clean clothes and grab his stuff before heading up the mountain too.

‘I should go as well,’ Toshiro said glancing down at his watch to check the time.

‘Will you text me and keep me updated?’ Rangiku seemed to compromise and he smiled.

‘Yeah of course, will you two keep me up to date with Gin?’ he asked and Rukia smirked winking at him.

‘Of course,’ Rukia replied.

‘Rukia I will meet you in your hotel lobby in ten?’ Rangiku said her eyes flickering back down to Toshiro like she wanted to ask him something before he left. She nodded and turned toward the very door that Gin had just bolted through. Rangiku didn’t wait until she was far enough away before speaking to Toshiro and Rukia picked up the woman’s words.

‘You have her number?’ Rangiku’s voice hissed and Rukia chuckled to herself, loving the fact that Toshiro was likely just about to get grilled by his best friend the same way he’d likely been grilled by his sister this morning after coming by the rink. Perhaps it was cruel but Rukia kind of liked the idea that all the females around Toshiro knew he had momentarily been claimed.

Refusing to think beyond that Rukia bounded up to her room. She dumped her things and hung her cotton clothes up to dry, before getting ready. Then she fired Rangiku a quick Instagram message to say she was on her way.

Rukia was unsurprised to find that Rangiku was a little later than expected, probably due to the fact she’d had a wardrobe change. It still sent a wave of total jealousy through Rukia just how absolutely stunning Rangiku was, even when she wasn’t trying… but she was clearly trying today. She had a very light dusting of makeup on, a lip gloss so moist it drew the eyes directly to her lips and her hair tussled and sexily swept to one side.

‘Ready?’ Rangiku asked her voice a few octaves higher with excitement and Rukia grinned up at her, swallowing back her feelings of jealousy.

‘Absolutely!’

The two of them made their way toward the mountain where the crowd were gathered to watch. Thankfully they were separated into the section reserved for coaches and other athletes so they didn’t draw attention to themselves. Their large obnoxious Australian and Irish jackets would make them an instant target for a crowd of Olympic fans.

The booming voice of the commentator came over the speaker system and they were using English and French, though when the event started it would likely be French only. That didn’t bother Rukia she knew she’d be able to spot Gin a mile away given his height and their boisterous green and blue Irish colours.

‘This is so exciting,’ Rangiku said bouncing on her feet and looking easily over the crowd. Rukia managed to push her way into a spot where she could easily see the television, the slope in the distance was hard to see from where they were stood but the screens would show them everything that would be broadcasted live on the television anyway.

‘Have you ever been to a Snowboard cross event?’ Rukia asked with a soft smile.

‘Yes,’ she laughed sexily and tucked her hair behind her ear awkwardly with a large gloved hand. ‘Sometimes we’d go and watch them when at the X Games or like last Olympics we watched them on television. Just depends on the time of the events and how close they are to ours.’

‘That makes sense,’ Rukia said glancing up at the screen which was showing the crowd below, people screaming and shouting and waving flags directly into the camera when they realised that the focus was on them. ‘Did you know of Gin before then?’ Rukia wasn’t sure if she’d already broached this topic before or not. 

‘Well because of the helmets and goggles…’ Rangiku trailed off, ‘mostly we just watched the finals anyway very rarely did we watch the heats or the qualifiers for the events.’ She shrugged and Rukia supposed she understood that. Someone would have to be glued to the TV to watch all the Olympic sports, there would be no time to eat, sleep or train if you cared that much about all the events. Even just a round of heats for one snowboarding event could last a couple of hours.

‘Gin has never made it to the podium at the Olympics before,’ Rukia said, he’d won a couple of smaller competitions but never taken gold at anything major.

Gin was set to race in 2 rounds of the heat. There were over 40 athletes and a couple had already pulled out due to injuries and various other reasons, as often happened. The first part of the heats was 8 rounds with 6 snowboarders to ride in each round wearing either a red, blue, green, yellow, black or white bib. The top three in each race would advance while the bottom two would be put out of the competition.

The same thing happened in the second round of the heats, also known as the “quarterfinals,” except there were only 4 races with 6 competitors and the top 3 from each round moved onto the semi-finals.

‘I’m sure he’s going to do great here,’ Rangiku said staring hopefully up at the screen.

‘Gin isn’t the quickest but he has stamina.’ Rukia explained, ‘he usually does better in the later part of the race.’ Rukia swallowed, she really hoped that Gin did well… she hoped he qualified for the semi-finals at least because she didn’t want to pull a sulking Gin out of bed and remind him that Rangiku didn’t care about medals. Truth was though, that Rukia had no idea at all what Rangiku cared about, so this would be prime time to find out a little about the girl who was going to be potentially dating her best friend.

‘So what’s going on between you two then?’ Rukia enquired and a soft smile tugged at Rangiku’s mouth like she’d been expecting the question and was wondering why it had taken Rukia this long to ask it.

‘Is this where we do the best friend interviews?’ Rangiku replied turning her eyes glimmering with humour down at Rukia.

‘I guess so,’ she smirked up at the tall woman who really was like a giant compared to her.

‘Alright well Gin makes me smile,’ she started simply shrugged her shoulders, ‘I’ve been with other guys before who aren’t like him and none of those relationships ever worked out.’

‘So you’re going to give Gin a chance?’ Rukia asked tilting her head in curiosity, ‘because he’s a good guy and I don’t want to see him get hurt.’

‘Exactly how I feel about Toshiro,’ she said and Rukia felt something cold slip down her back. The two girls stood there, in a standoff, both with their arms folded tightly across their chests eyeing the other up.

Rukia didn’t really know what to say but even at the genuine mention of Toshiro’s name her whole body had just tensed defensively which hadn’t gone unnoticed by Rangiku. She didn’t know how much Toshiro had told her of their “run ins” how much detail he gave her… she wasn’t sure so she was scared to say something that may get back to Toshiro later, or cause him strain with his best friend. No one liked the conversations of “why didn’t you tell me?” with their BFFs.

‘Alright,’ Rukia said carefully after a moment watching as the other girls’ gaze became steely, ready to defend her best friend if need be. ‘How about we agree that neither of us are ready for this conversation and chat about something else?’ Rukia picked her words carefully, keeping her tone light. Rangiku seemed to relax a tiny bit now that Rukia had swept the question of her and Gin to the side, but there was still a hard set edge to her jaw that suggested she didn’t like the idea of not being able to talk about Toshiro. She visibly swayed for a moment trying to make a decision before she finally sighed and nodded.

‘Fine, but only because you gave him your number and I _know_ that means something,’ Rangiku said pointedly her eyes scanning Rukia’s face closely for a reaction. Rukia set her jaw but did not take the bait, she knew Rangiku was trying to pry some information from her.

‘I know you gave Gin _your_ number.’ Rukia said quickly, ‘let’s just leave it there shall we?’

Rangiku sighed in exasperation but Rukia was just as stubborn. If they weren’t talking about Gin they weren’t talking about Toshiro, simple.

‘Fine,’ Rangiku agreed finally after a while and Rukia had to resolve herself to the understanding that neither of them were really getting what they wanted out of the conversation. At that moment though a voice came over the speakers announcing the start to the competition, the women were to go first as with most sports and as Rukia glanced up at the screen she could see that Soi Fon was in Group 3 meaning that 2 other lots of ladies would race before her.

Rukia and Rangiku moved, instead, onto safer topics as they settled down for their wait. Rangiku spoke about her sponsorships with Roxy and the different kind of boards there were. Rukia had heard from Gin about different boards, she hadn’t understood it at first because she only owned one pair of figure skates and they did all of her figure skating routines. But when it came to boards, things were totally different, Gin owned more than ten boards and by the sounds of things, Rangiku owned even more. The first two runs of the women’s competition were ignored, other than catching the names of the women who came in first because they’d be giving Soi Fon the biggest competition.

Tier Harribel came first in group 1 and Lilynette Gingerbuck came first in group 2 when finally the first bit of green and the Irish flag appeared on screen. Soi Fon was a lot more aggressive in her snowboarding technique, often she’d cut corners and take other snowboarders down with her if she were to go down. It had seen her disqualified once before. She was here to try and win and nothing would stand in her way. They readied themselves and then as the doors opened they shot out onto the slope.

It was carnage, complete carnage, a girl from Poland went down catching three other girls behind her, one of which just happened to be Soi Fon.

Nelliel Odelschwanck took the first place and then a girl from France was next over the finish line, between the four girls who had gone down it was a battle for the final spot. Soi Fon was tiny though and she was the first back up on her board. Rukia was aware she was now clutching at Rangiku’s arm, her nails digging into her jacket until Soi Fon was safely over the line in the third place. Rukia breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Soi Fon would have hated it if she’d gone out in the first round of the heats. 

‘That just looks dangerous,’ Rangiku said as the crash was put up on the screens in slow motion replay.

‘Say’s the girl who comes shooting out of a pipe to flip into the air meters above the ground,’ Rukia teased and Rangiku shot her a glorious grin that almost took Rukia’s breath away… _almost._

They waited for the men’s first heat to start and noticed that Gin was in the final group to race. Rukia was tense, staring nervously up at the screen as big name after big name flashed up. By the time it came for Gin to take to the snow Rangiku and Rukia were almost as nervous as he looked.

‘There he is,’ Rangiku said suddenly grabbing Rukia tightly by the arm as the camera flashed over him. Urahara was directly behind him, the coach whispering a final thing into his ear, his green and white striped beanie could be seen with ease. Gin had his goggles up, nodding along to whatever Urahara was saying to him, muttering something back and they both looked down the line of people there before they seemed to decide on something. Gin’s information was displayed under him on the television, Gin Ichimaru, 24, Ireland. He had a little blue card next to his name, meaning he was the rider in the blue bib.

‘Oh,’ Rangiku said, suddenly just noticing something.

‘What?’ Rukia asked, wondering if maybe she knew someone with the same surname. The strawberry blonde woman was frowning up at the screen.

‘He’s younger than me,’ she said dryly and Rukia pursed her lips before she burst out laughing, Rangiku turned to look at her sharply.

‘Toshiro is two years younger than me so if you’re going to say anything…’ Rukia said simply when Rangiku pouted at her.

They turned back to the giant television as the riders got ready. Hands on the grips either side of the starting gates, waiting for the gates to open which announced the start of the race. Gin always got good speed out of the gate and Rukia held her breath.

The gates opened with a bang and they shot out, Rukia groaned when she saw that Gin hadn’t gotten as much speed behind his launch as he usually did and he was already in last place. The camera focused on the two leaders as they leapt over the mounds of snow before racing down the hill towards the first turn.

‘Come on,’ Rukia growled at the screen, her eyes searching, desperate for her friend to catch up. He had to place in the top three to move on in the competition.

‘I think Urahara has talked strategy with him,’ Rangiku said, she was frowning at the screen as well where the two girls could see Gin lurking a little behind the leaders. He didn’t even look like he was trying and Rukia prayed that Rangiku was right.

‘Come on,’ Rukia hissed again as they made their way down toward the second last and tightest turn. The man in second place swung too wide allowing for both the third place man and Gin to pass him and Rukia had fisted Rangiku’s arm again before she started shouting at the screen, ‘come on Gin! Move your tall ass boy!’

‘Come on!’ Rangiku shouted laughing nervously at Rukia’s reactions as Gin took to the final stretch of the finish line. Leaping over the final hurdle, Gin was crouched down close to his board, urging it faster with his body and literally right on the cusp of the finish line drew level with the guy in second place.

Rukia released a breathy sigh, either way he had qualified for the next round because he’d come in second or third but they were having to go to a photo finish to find out for sure who was in each place.

‘I think Urahara knew that guy would go down on a turn,’ Rangiku said smiling and Rukia simply nodded.

‘You know more about snowboarding than me,’ Rukia said firmly.

‘Have you never been snowboarding?’ Rangiku asked in shock and Rukia felt her face flush. 

‘Gin has invited me, wanted to teach me but there’s not really anywhere to do it in Ireland and our schedules always clashed.’

‘You’ve never been on a snowboard?’ Rangiku asked again still a little in shock.

‘No,’ Rukia said with a chuckle, ‘I don’t know how I’d feel about it, I’m used to my legs being separated.’

‘I bet Toshiro knows all about that,’ Rangiku said rolling her eyes and Rukia burst out in an embarrassed laugh, ‘but does he know you can’t snowboard? He’ll have you on a board before the end of the Olympics, I can assure you.’

Rukia watched as the photo finish camera came up in slow motion and was thrilled to see that actually Gin had finished in second place instead of third. He looked pleased too, waving his green and blue board at the camera before making his way to the chairlift to go back up the mountain for the next run. Rukia decided that she would love to learn snowboarding if it meant she could go on cool mountain holidays with Rangiku, Gin and Toshiro and even Renji and Ichigo. She’d feel completely left out if they all went without her and that thought made her scowl uncomfortably.

‘I will learn to snowboard,’ she said quickly.

‘Excellent,’ Rangiku said with a twinkle in her eye.

They watched as the ladies readied themselves for the second round of heats. There were only four rounds this time with six girls competing and Soi Fon was going to be going in the first round. Rangiku and Rukia watched eagerly as Soi Fon fired herself out of the gate so quickly she was put directly in first place and managed to maintain the speed for the majority of her run, only being overtaken on the last hurdle to miss out on first place but still in a healthy qualifying position. Rukia and Rangiku cheered loudly for the Irish lass as she thrust her fist into the air a smirk on her face as she made her way off the mountain.

‘Toshiro has just text me,’ Rangiku said, ‘apparently Renji qualified and we’re just waiting for Ichigo’s final run.’ She said and Rukia glanced down at her phone to see that Toshiro had also sent her a message. She grinned and unlocked her phone, bringing his message up.

**_Toshiro, 19:34pm:_ ** _Hey beautiful :) how’s Gin doing?_

Rukia quickly typed up a reply and sent it onto him, feeling Rangiku’s eyes on her face.

**_Rukia, 19:43pm:_ ** _Hey Handsome_ _;)_

_Gin’s got through his first round, we’re just waiting for his second_

Rukia slipped her phone back into her pocket but couldn’t quite wipe the smile off her face. She could feel Rangiku’s eyes on her and regretted it the moment she turned to look at the girl who broke into a horrifically knowing smirk.

‘Shut up,’ Rukia huffed, burying her face down into her scarf as Rangiku giggled at her.

‘I didn’t say anything,’ Rangiku said in a voice that was very much, cat that got the cream.

Rukia was distracted from her embarrassment when Gin’s name flashed up on the screen. He was to be competing in round three of the next round of men’s heats.

Rangiku pulled her phone back out as the first round of the men’s cross raced and it seemed she was likely texting Toshiro as well, because she kept giving Rukia updates.

‘Ichigo has qualified,’ Rangiku said with a slight nod of her head and Rukia deliberated for a moment over asking Rangiku more about Ichigo and Toshiro’s relationship but she wasn’t quite sure how to broach the topic with her. They’d said they wouldn’t talk about their own personal feelings towards Gin and Toshiro but that didn’t mean they couldn’t chat about their BFFs?

‘Does Toshiro go to all of Ichigo’s events?’ she asked casually, her probing light.

‘Normally yes,’ Rangiku sighed and ran a hand through her hair as the first round of the men’s cross came to a finish. ‘Unless it crosses with Toshiro’s own events he will always go and support him.’

That didn’t come as a surprise to Rukia who had started to understand what a genuine person Toshiro was. He was very much like Gin it seemed, which she’d use as her reminder as to why they’d never work. She’d seriously thought about the whole relationship with Gin and it had felt like two hands were slowly being slid around her throat. Rukia didn’t feel those hands when she thought of Toshiro, but it wasn’t like this was any more than an Olympic thing anyway given that Toshiro stayed on the other side of the world.

Rangiku and Gin could work because they’d likely end up in similar places for competitions and training, making their relationship a lot easier to maintain if that was what the two of them wanted…

What was she even saying? What was she even thinking about?

No. She did not want to be in a relationship with Toshiro Shiba, that thought was absurd.

Rukia scowled at herself and refused to pull her mobile out to look at the reply text he’d sent her, even though she could feel her phone burning in her pocket.

Rukia was pleased for the distraction when it was Gin’s turn to race and she clung onto Rangiku’s arm with both gloved fingers as she watched him getting ready at the gate. He was bringing his goggles down over his eyes and smiled sheepishly at the camera.

‘He’s nervous,’ Rukia said instantly.

‘How do you know?’ Rangiku breathed beside her, both women now focusing intently on the screen.

‘He never smiles when he’s focused,’ it set a bundle of nerves wriggling in Rukia’s own stomach. Unlike herself, when she was feeling confident it would be smirks all around, Gin was a lot more placid when it came to a race.

‘Does he board better when he’s nervous or not?’ Rangiku asked neither woman looking at each other, their focus fully on the big screen which showed he was also boarding against two of the big names in this round.

That was why he was nervous.

‘Usually,’ Rukia swallowed fearfully, ‘usually worse.’

Rangiku said nothing back to that but she did end up putting a comforting hand over Rukia’s on her arm. Rukia lessened her grip ever so slightly but could feel her stomach dancing nervously. She always seemed to get more nervous for Gin than she did for her own competitions.

Then a weird fleeting feeling blossomed in her chest, she realised that she wanted more than anything for Toshiro to be there. Like him being there to comfort her would somehow make Gins race go better which was a ridiculous thought. Rukia pulled her hands away from Rangiku and hugged herself, she could feel Rangiku’s eyes on her face but she didn’t stop looking at the screen.

‘Come on,’ Rukia mumbled her breath coming out in a ghostly wisp in the cold dark air.

The snowboarders had their heads bowed, their hands gripping the railings on either side of the gates. Ulquiorra looked far too calm in his bright red bib, his dark green eyes could be seen through his goggles. Coyote in the blue bib was beside him, getting ready for the drop and Rukia hugges herself tighter. There was only one redeeming thing about this run.

A snow cloud had begun to drop overhead and now there was a light flurry of snow, the start of one of many snowstorms they were expected to have during the course of the Olympics. Gin was good in those kinds of conditions, he often went out in extreme conditions and that would hopefully give him an edge.

There was a beats silence.

Then the gates opened and they shot out of the starting point, instantly Gin was in fourth place and both Rangiku and Rukia were shouting up at the television. Rukia wasn’t even sure what she was shouting now but she was pretty sure there were curse words in there.

Gin was easy to spot thanks to the green attire standing in stark contrast to the yellow bib he wore, he wasn’t letting the leaders out of his sight and the guy in the green bib who Rukia couldn’t remember was just slightly ahead of him. Ulquiorra was out in the lead, well clear of the pack and Coyote had lost some speed on the first turn.

The storm picked up and the white flurries felt like they were now blocking Rukia’s view of the TV, she hissed in exasperation as she glared up at the screen. An aerial shot showed that Gin was still in fourth, battling closely with Coyote and the green bib guy.

‘Come on Gin!’ Rangiku shouted at the TV, ‘you’ve got this!’

They went over a small ramp and Gin cheekily grabbed his board for a few seconds while in the air giving the girls a good giggle before his board connected with the snow again, they made their way down to the last turn and green bib guy caught, staggered by the fluffy snow and tumbled right out into the path of Gin.

‘FUCK!’ Rukia cried but Gin, being the legend that he was, jumped over the sprawled body, losing him speed in the moment and allowing Coyote a chance to get much further ahead of him but the person behind fell flat over the body of the sprawled snowboarder because the visibility was now so poor.

‘YES!’ Rangiku called as Ulquiorra crossed the finish line, followed by Coyote and then Gin sliding in that third place position meaning he had qualified for the semi-finals.

‘WOO HOO!’ Rangiku shouted and the two girls embraced before glancing back up at the screen. They saw Gin pulling down his neck buffer and grinning broadly as he took his snowboard away, waving at the bystanders as he fell in line behind Ulquiorra and Coyote.

‘That was so exciting,’ Rangiku said with a smirk as they turned around and made their way through the crowd to the athlete only area. They spotted Gin towering above the other snowboarders and Rangiku shouted on him.

He walked over with a massive grin on his face as he clocked the two of them.

‘Ah didnae think yeh’d actually come,’ he chuckled nervously, pulling his goggles off but leaving his helmet on because… helmet hair.

‘Of course,’ Rangiku smiled up at him and Rukia grinned.

‘Congratulations for qualifying for the semi-finals,’ Rukia said hugging him and he wrapped his arms around her, bending himself at the knees so she could actually hug him properly. Rangiku laughed at how ridiculous the two of them must have looked, it wouldn’t have worked if they’d gotten together, no way. Rukia would have needed a ladder to climb him. When they broke apart Rangiku held out her arms and with a beaming smile Gin hugged her too. Rukia noticed with delight that the two were literally the perfect height, Rangiku’s head nestled just under his chin and she was suddenly very pleased that her and Gin had remained friends. If they’d tried to actually date, she may never have saw the sight of Gin hugging the legendary Rangiku.

Apparently someone else noticed it too because suddenly there were the flashings of a few cameras and the two broke apart their moment completely ruined.

‘We should go and do the press,’ Urahara said suddenly appearing out of nowhere like he always did.

‘Yeah ah suppose,’ Gin said glaring at the photographer who had been cheeky enough to take a few snaps and interrupted his time with Rangiku.

Promising to meet him back at the hotel, Rukia slipped away and Rangiku followed.

‘I really enjoyed that,’ she said cheerfully as they made their way back to the two towering hotels. ‘So when are you next seeing Toshiro?’ she asked casually and Rukia smiled, Rangiku couldn’t help herself.

‘Well,’ Rukia sighed pulling her phone out and quickly dismissing the notifications to check her calendar. ‘Probably not for a while,’ she said miserably.

‘Training?’ Rangiku asked and she nodded. The truth was, that all the athletes were now through their heats but the real competition was only 4 days away for her. She couldn’t afford to get distracted now, she’d have to eat right, sleep right and get ready for her main event. Rukia knew when to focus and when to be distracted and the next few days she was about to get hit with would involve multiple group practice sessions on the ice, going to gym and if she could find a space, practice time for going over her routine even if it weren’t on the actual ice.

‘I suppose we’re the same,’ Rangiku said glumly, ‘the heats are over now,’ she chuckled, ‘and the real Olympics now starts.’

\---

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
 _@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice_** _OMFG DID YOU SEE THE PICTURE OF RAN AND GIN HUGGING AFTER HIS HEAT????????????????????????????_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice**   
**_@RanRoxyQueen29_ ** _THeyre far too cute for their own good!!!!! (heart eyes) (heart eyes)_

**@IrishLass101  
** _#IreAussie is a solid launch._

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice**   
**_@IrishLass101_ ** _I am so happy for him, he honestly deserves it!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to be kept up to date with what I am working on and how it's going you can do so by following me on trello (or just save it to your favs? Whatever works):
> 
> https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions


	7. Romeo & Juliet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'YES!' Rukia called with a triumphant smirk while he groaned in exasperation. 'Let's see you take a body shot off Rangiku then.' Rukia's eyes slid to Rangiku, her devil smile returning to her mouth. Rangiku hadn't said anything was off limits, so she had to assume she'd be fine with this. Gin threw her an incredulous look, like he couldn't believe his best friend would betray him like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was postponed and released for GinRan week!!!!! :D Since it has a few solid moments and nods to them! I hope you enjoy!!! 
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord go here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)

__

Art By: Ammsterdamn

\---------------

It was easier than Rukia expected to fall back into a rhythm of training, working out, sleeping and eating with little else taking up space in her mind. She’d not realised how exhausting it was to overthink every single little thing, every little action…

Every damn message he sent.

Despite the fact she’d not seen Toshiro or even Rangiku and other Aussie lot. The pretty snowboarder had texted her daily and sometimes would send her snaps of himself that didn’t end up on his Instagram. His Instagram was the first thing Rukia stalked as soon as she picked up her phone and even when she clicked on ‘google’ his name had become her favourite internet browsing search. Rukia would have been embarrassed if she wasn’t so proud of the fact she’d learned how to set up a private folder in her android phone for all the private pictures he sent to her. She even had it password protected.

Her absolute favourite was a sleepy one where his phone was held out at arm’s length, his face half buried by a pillow as he laid on his front with his back and the swell of his ass on show. One large teal eye was gazing intently into the camera and he was smiling into the pillow as he clutched it. Rukia had only barely resisted making it her wallpaper but she didn’t want to give Gin the satisfaction of learning that she was perhaps only a tiny little itty bitty bit more invested in Toshiro than she let on.

But how could she not be invested? Rukia returned to the photo more than any of the others, the dim hotel lighting in the picture casting shadows that blocked out most of the view of his ass but left enough of it on show to tempt and tease the imagination. His back was flawless, how had she not noticed that before? Probably because each time he’d turned away (usually to dispose of a condom) she’d had her eyes focused a lot lower.

There was a cheeky playfulness to his face in the picture that set her blood on fire, like he knew exactly the effect this picture would have on her and yet there wasn’t really anything sexual about the picture, not really. They’d refrained from sending any kind of dirty pictures to each other, most were a lot more innocent, and others, like this one, were flirty and teasing, but none of them showed any private parts. They were both too worried about phones going missing or getting hacked, it wasn’t worth it.

Toshiro’s Instagram profile seemed to have taken a slight turn since coming to the Olympics. His posts seemed even more playful than they previously had been. Videos of him and his sister Karin hanging out, funny behind the scenes training stories and videos with Rangiku and his father/coach.

Rukia flinched as she tapped the little heart on a recent upload from yesterday of Toshiro and Isshin. It looked like the picture had been taken by Rangiku and featured Toshiro in all his snow gear with his goggles on looking focused and Isshin whispering something in his ear. She’d not seen Isshin since she’d fled out from under his fatherly gaze and left Toshiro alone to deal with the embarrassment. Rukia didn’t have the courage to face the man again and often avoided him anytime she saw him walking around. Normally Rukia wouldn’t have an issue with anyone knowing what she got up to in her spare time (which seemed to be the whole world). But this was different. The whole ‘parent’ thing was new to her, since she’d never had a boyfriend before and had never stuck around a guy long enough to meet another member of his family.

With Isshin it was strange, she’d seen him in the canteen once picking up a couple of bottles of water probably for his hotel room and she’d literally run into the girls bathrooms to avoid him. When she came out and Gin had asked her what had happened she’d come up with a lame excuse of thinking her period had started which was ridiculous because her periods could only start when she stopped taking her pill and she’d timed them so she wouldn’t have one at all during the two main weeks of the Olympics. Gin being a man though hadn’t challenged her on it, just nodded his head grimly and asked if the bloody dams had opened.

Thumb hovering over her screen her eyes flickered up to the time. Rukia had four minutes before her alarm was due to go off and so she continued to scroll. She was now following Rangiku, Ichigo and Yuzu on Instagram and was stalking through old posts. She was disappointed to see a lack of Toshiro on Ichigo’s, but it hadn’t come as a big shock to her given what Rangiku had said on the evening on Gin’s heat. Yuzu’s Instagram was informative. Rukia got to see how the pair rehearsed and was pleased that no mention of her triple lutz had been revealed yet. It was always best not to show off a new trick on social media until you could handle the pressure of people expecting to see it in your routines.

Rukia had scrolled through and liked a couple of photos on Yuzu’s page, including every single picture with Toshiro as if to leave the girl a hint of; “he’s the better brother.”

Toshiro and Rangiku had published the videos of her and Gin singing on top of the washing machines and Rukia had made the mistake of scrolling through the comments. Most were just laughing face emojis, others were people tagging friends saying that they should do it and a couple were just straight up stalker material.

One girl called “MomoShiro” had left a comment calling her a whore (quite a common adjective flung at her) and stated how Toshiro was her soul mate. Rukia rolled her eyes and snorted into her pillow, he really did have some majorly creepy fans. Never judge a celebrity by their fan base though, Rukia thought calmly, otherwise every single person would be trying to buy their way into her pants.

The alarm sounded and Rukia groaned shutting it off. Byakuya wanted her in the rink early and stretching for her Short Programme. This was it, the start of the actual competition at the Olympics and what she’d been training for. She took a deep breath and sat up in the room, locking her phone and twisting her body to loosen it up. From over to her left Soi Fon stirred awake at her alarm.

‘G’d luk,’ she mumbled sleepily and Rukia grinned into the dimly lit room.

‘Thanks,’ she whispered knowing that Soi Fon would be there with Gin later to cheer her on with an Irish flag. Rukia turned her attention toward the shower and changed quickly before making her way down to the hotel breakfast. Hotel breakfasts didn’t start that early, usually, but for athletes during the Olympics they’d made the exception, she shuddered to think what time the poor kitchen staff got up at in the morning to make sure that she could have a 6:30am breakfast.

Rukia ate her granola before picking up her bag and making her way out into the lobby, as she walked toward the door a member of staff in a well fitted black suit waved at her.

‘Miss Kuchiki?’ he asked with a smile. Despite knowing it was her name Rukia looked behind her anyway just to be sure it was definitely her he was referring too before approaching him. He was smiling at her and pointed to the reception desk. ‘These just arrived for you, I didn’t want to disturb your roommate by delivering them so early.’

Rukia glanced over and her mouth fell open.

It was a bouquet of tulips. She wandered over and picked up the card, wondering who the hell had sent them to her and felt a flutter in her chest.

**_“Good luck today beautiful, Toshiro xx”_ **

Rukia couldn’t stop the stupid smile that burst over her face at the words, she glanced up at the beautiful flowers… they were her favourites too! How on earth would he even know that? She cast her mind back trying to think… maybe she’d said it in an interview once or something. Rukia leaned in and inhaled, they were all various shades of purple. Some a deep rich purple and others a more pale purple that were closer to pink. She loved them. When Rukia stepped back she could feel eyes on her and turned to see the hotel employee quickly look back down at his computer and begin tapping away on the keyboard. Slipping the card into her pocket not, really wanting anyone else to see it, Rukia wandered back over to him.

‘Can you have them delivered to my room as soon as Soi Fon wakes up?’ Rukia asked and he nodded his head.

‘Certainly, we will deliver them at a more convenient hour and they’ll be waiting for you after your skate today,’ his smile stretched wider, ‘good luck today Miss Kuchiki.’

Rukia smiled at the way his Swiss accent curled around her name and thanked him before taking her leave. She walked outside and was hit immediately with the cold air, but the wind did not force it deep into her chest as it often did when it was extremely cold. For some reason the morning seemed milder and there wasn’t a single bit of wind that she could feel. Rukia still pulled her Irish jacket more firmly around her shoulders and trudged over the cleared path in the direction of the rink. The bag on her back weighed her down and her mind, which should have been focused on her upcoming routine, kept dancing back to those flowers that were waiting for her. She could feel the card in her pocket of her jacket like a little weight providing her comfort. He was on her mind and perhaps that was why she looked up straight away when she heard his voice.

Only it wasn’t his voice, it was his booming laugh, deep and full of boyish charm, he had his hands on his legs, his breaths coming out in pants and moistening the air in thick vapour. Rukia couldn’t help the smile that lit up her face at simply just seeing him. She was about to shout out to him but held back spotting what he’d been laughing at as his sister stood back up and tossed a football at his head. Toshiro only just raised an arm in time to block it and Rukia heard the thud of the ball hitting him harshly from where she was stood, a few meters away across the road. They were clearly trying to play football but Karin had just fallen on her backside and that was what had caused Toshiro to laugh.

It took Rukia a little longer than it should have to notice what he was wearing. He had a sleeveless hoodie on, his arms bare to the frozen air and nothing on underneath. When did arms become sexy? She thought tilting her head. How could she find him still so thrillingly attractive even after they’d already slept together twice? That shouldn’t be possible, she should have had it out of her system by now, but if anything he seemed even _more_ attractive. Karin kicked the ball and it soared right passed him, Toshiro had to run to catch up with it and Karin moved to block the ball as he kicked it harshly back at her. Rukia had no idea he played football. She knew his sister did because she’d stalked Karin’s Instagram too, but there were very few pictures of Toshiro on it because she’d been away in Germany playing football professionally so Rukia hadn’t bothered to follow her. Karin caught the ball with ease, doing some fancy footwork to get the ball up off the ground and into the air before smacking it in his direction.

The two of them were conversing but from where she was Rukia couldn’t make out what they were saying. Checking her phone Rukia decided she didn’t have the time to stay and watch the outcome of their little match, it was clear they’d been at it for a while because she could see the sweat glistening off his arms and his face. Rukia couldn’t risk turning up at the Olympics late and turned on.

With a sigh she crossed the street and planned on surprising him from behind but Karin clocked her first and called something to Toshiro who whipped around, his whole face breaking out into a stunning smile that had Rukia blushing instantly.

Stupid dimples and white teeth on show he tried to wipe the worst of the sweat on the bottom part of his hoodie before she got close enough to him, but all that did was bring his hoodie up away from his abdomen which was exactly where Rukia’s eyes slid too. His stomach was contracting with deep breaths and the sweat was glistening on the muscles that littered his stomach. Rukia’s mouth was watering, that hoodie was definitely her new favourite article of clothing on him.

‘Hello,’ she said brightly when she reached him and Toshiro had put his clothing back down over his exposed flesh. His cheeks were dusted pink with embarrassment and Rukia wasn’t really sure why. ‘Thank you so much for the flowers.’ Rukia grinned up at him and he swallowed and tried to wipe at his forehead again.

Was he embarrassed that he was sweating? She blinked at him, if that were the case should she have been embarrassed at the state she’d been in at the rink? She didn’t think he’d have cared considering they’d seen each other much worse during sex?

‘Ah,’ Toshiro mumbled shyly his sister listening intently behind him, ‘you’re welcome. I’m sorry I can’t come to your short programme today, Dad has me training all morning and afternoon.’

‘That’s okay,’ Rukia replied, ‘I know how important the practice time is right now, the Olympics is what we’re here for, we can’t afford for too many…’ she let her eyes wander over his arms and where his stomach muscles had just been on display, ‘… _distractions_.’

Rukia smirked and he flushed even more red at her words. By the feel of the heat on her own face she was blushing just as badly.

‘Yeah,’ Toshiro chuckled nervously tossing a glance back at Karin behind him as if scared she’d heard that. Rukia rolled her eyes with a soft smile on her face. He was still trying to shield his sisters from his obvious sex life. At least it wasn’t obvious on her neck because she had chosen to cover the bites up with a choker today. ‘Good luck,’ he said firmly, ‘I’ll watch the replay later but text me and let me know how you got on?’

‘Okay,’ she said quietly and then realised she was in that awkward space again, just like the threshold of his bedroom door. Rukia didn’t really know what to do about this farewell given that one of his baby sisters was standing just behind them.

‘I’ll see you later?’ Toshiro asked and stepped forward, his hand on the small of her back and kissed her head. She felt her skin tingle from where his lips made contact but he stepped back quickly and offered her a shy smile. Rukia grinned up at him and nodded.

‘Yeah, see you later, bye Karin,’ she offered a wave to the dark haired woman who waved back.

‘Good luck,’ Karin called too and Rukia just grinned at her before departing. That had been an image that she didn’t need in her head… or maybe it was the perfect image to have in her head? Her routine was still the Burlesque one after all and to perform it at its best, sex would have to be on her mind. She smirked to herself, his marks still littered her thighs and though the first one on her neck had healed completely the second one he’d left was just as visible as the ones on her legs.

Rukia would have a hard time covering the leg ones for her contest but she’d have to try, the judges really didn’t need to see those. She wanted people to judge her skating, not what she did away from the rink, so she’d packed Soi Fon’s best concealer and prayed to the gods it worked as well as the Irish lass promised it would.

The rink rose into view just in time as her brother text her asking where she was. After texting back that she was just outside Rukia bounded in, flashing her pass to the various security officers who scrutinized her with a gaze before nodding her along. The security was going to be even tighter today given that it was now the main event and not just a heat.

Ducking inside the building Rukia made her way toward the changing rooms where she spotted Byakuya waiting just outside.

‘You’re late,’ he commented dryly and she rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, for whatever reason her smile seemed to relax him. His shoulders, which had been tensed before, slumped a little and there was a brief shadow of a smile that crossed his lips, but when she blinked it was gone.

Byakuya had indeed been ill. When he’d finally felt better enough to return to the rink for one of her practices, she could see the dark purple around his eyes and his face looked even more pale and pointed than usual. Thankfully whatever it was seemed to have left him in time for the main competition, though he still had deep purple eyes, like he hadn’t been sleeping well.

‘Sorry,’ Rukia replied with the air of someone who very clearly wasn’t sorry at all. ‘Did you manage to sleep at all?’

Her little bit of kindness seemed to help, his expression softened even though his eyes seemed to sweep over her face. Maybe he was checking for any signs of her catching it? The last thing they needed was Rukia getting ill at the Olympics that would literally be the gold medal gone.

‘I slept a little better but not to worry,’ he shuffled the stretching mat that he’d brought for her under his arms and reached out to hold open the door to the woman’s changing area, ‘you have a skate to worry about.’ He shared a very rare smile with her as she slipped past him and into the changing rooms.

‘But Rukia?’ he called and she stopped turning to blink at him, he appeared to have the door open with a foot his hand outstretched, ‘give me your phone.’

‘But,’ she frowned, she wasn’t a child she wasn’t going to be sitting on it instead of doing her hair or stretching.

‘No buts,’ he said simply, ‘no distractions. Not while we’re here.’

‘Fine,’ she grumbled handing her phone over and watching his face as he scowled down at her lock screen.

Rukia had given in and put the picture Toshiro had sent her that she liked so much as her lock screen. She’d planned on changing it back after her short programme hoping that it would maybe bring her good luck.

‘Must you really have that as your lock screen?’ Byakuya glared down at the device, clearly seeing a lot more of Toshiro than he’d hoped to before turning his glare back up at her. Rukia simply shrugged in reply.

‘Hey if you don’t like it, don’t look at my phone,’ she smirked and walked further into the changing rooms causing him to sigh in disapproval and close the door so that she could get some privacy. Rukia changed swiftly. She would postpone putting on her contest outfit until closer to the time, allowing her to stretch in her leggings and light t-shirt. She exited the changing room to find Byakuya waiting on her, scowling worse than before.

‘Your conquest text,’ he huffed pushing the phone at her.

Rukia smirked down at the screen where the top of Toshiro’s bum was further obscured by a text message from the very sexy snowboarder himself.

**Toshiro, 8:02am:** _Good luck beautiful, I know I said it already but you’ll smash it ;)_

Rukia could feel the stupid smirk work its way into a massive grin on her face as she hastily typed out a quick reply.

**Rukia, 8:10am:** _Thanks sexy ;) maybe if I do well you can send me another picture?_

_How about one of your thick cock? ;)_

With the devilish grin still in place on her face, Rukia handed her phone back to Byakuya “forgetting” to lock it. He glanced down as she turned away and she heard him choking, he didn’t seem to have coherent words for his response. Very pleased with his reaction she immediately found a secluded section and began lightly stretching.

Byakuya seemed like he couldn’t even face her again for a little while after the incident. He was nowhere to be found which Rukia was fine with. Her old school iPod was loaded with her tunes and she got on with her stretches trying to focus her mind into the competition. The trouble was, before, where there was nothing but raw confidence, there was now a bubble of unease. Telling Toshiro and Yuzu about the plans for her final routine meant solidifying them and with that came a wave of apprehension. She realised she had been distracting herself with Toshiro instead of making the final decision between her Carmen routine and her Not Today one.

Two hands were firmly pressed against the wall as she worked to loosen up her hips in a stretch that she was pretty sure Toshiro would appreciate when movement caught the side of her eye. She looked up to see a guy walking toward her whistling and wearing what was obviously a janitors uniform.

Without overthinking anything, Rukia straightened up and pulled her earphone out one ear, letting it dangle where she’d shoved it up through her workout top.

‘Excuse me,’ she said smiling kindly. The man was older, maybe in his late thirties or early forties and he looked taken aback at being addressed. ‘Do you speak English?’ Rukia asked.

‘Yes,’ he replied in a very thick accent, ‘but not good,’ he smiled sheepishly.

She held up her headphone where the music could be heard blaring out of it. ‘Do you know who the sound man is?’ she asked.

His brows furrowed and she pointed at the music of her speaker and then the speaker on the wall where the music would come out for the actual rink.

‘Ah yes,’ he said, ‘Christophe!’

‘Can you give Christophe a note?’ she mimed writing down on her hand with an invisible pen. The janitor reached into his uniform and pulled a pen and a tiny little notepad out. He flicked through the various pages that seemed to have a combination of shopping lists and codes for the building before finding a blank page and handing it to her.

Rukia wrote down a little note, asking Christophe to email her and contact her directly, not through anyone else.

‘Can you take to Christophe?’ she asked handing it back to him and he nodded.

‘I take, I take,’ he said with a bright smile, ‘do well,’ he pointed in the direction of the rink and gave her two thumbs up that had her laughing and nodding.

‘Thank you, I will,’ Rukia smirked and he turned and headed off in the direction he’d been walking before Rukia had interrupted him. She could feel that little bubble of apprehension again nibbling at her as her brother finally returned looking even more annoyed than he had when she’d been late to the rink.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ Rukia asked, hoping he was just annoyed with her texts to Toshiro and nothing else. Despite their relationship, she disliked when anything else made him upset, at least with her “conquests” it was a controlled annoyance.

He didn’t entertain the request though choosing to instruct her to correct her form than giving her an actual response.

It didn’t take long before a lot of the other female athletes started to arrive, Isane looking so nervous she was almost green and Rukia’s heart sunk.

‘Can I stretch with you?’ Isane asked her in Japanese and Rukia agreed, moving her mat over to allow the taller woman to sit down as their coaches spoke in the corner.

‘Where’s Kiy?’ Rukia asked glancing around.

‘She’s not allowed backstage because it’s the main event today, only competitors and coaches, no significant others, no family unless they’re coaches,’ she replied, ‘they’re really tight on security today.’

Rukia nodded, she knew how annoying the security at the Olympics could be, but it was a necessary evil to protect the athletes so she was happy to put up with it.

The two girls stretched and tried to prepare themselves mentally, the closer it came to competition time though the more obvious it became that Isane wasn’t doing well. Rukia wished she could do more for the girl other than just trying to distract her, because she was well aware she had to think about her own mental baggage and too often the conversations they had to try and ease Isane’s mind away from the competition strayed into the realm of Rukia’s personal life.

‘So are you seeing Toshiro again after the competition?’ Isane asked and Rukia shrugged.

She’d made it clear of course that she would be seeing Toshiro again, she’d taken his condoms right in front of him for goodness sake. She wasn’t so sick that she’d do that and then use them with someone else, but something she’d thought flirty and fun at the time now weighed on her as expectation.

Rukia didn’t want anyone else outside of her and Toshiro knowing that expectation existed because it just felt like more pressure.

In the end there was almost nothing Rukia could do to alleviate the stress from Isane. The girl was called on by her coach and the two women walked off in the direction of the rink, Rukia feeling like a horrible friend as she stretched out on the mat.

‘You have too much on your mind Rukia,’ Byakuya said softly to her, ‘I can see it in your shoulders.’

Rukia relaxed them, she hadn’t even realised she’d tensed them in the first place, then sighed deeply as she reached over to grab her feet, bending her body completely in half.

‘What’s on your mind?’ his voice was soft and Rukia glanced up at him in confusion. Those dark purple circles were still present, it seemed like he still wasn’t sleeping well. He didn’t sound ill but each time Rukia tried to broach the topic with him, he just fobbed her off with excuses as to why he wasn’t sleeping. His lies and deflection seemed to have settled themselves into another weight in her stomach.

‘Nothing,’ Rukia replied promptly, and he sighed.

‘If it’s that snowboarder-’

‘His name’s Toshiro-’

‘- then maybe you should stop seeing him.’

Rukia put her head down in the middle of her stretch because she didn’t want her brother to see the conflicting emotions running across her face. This really wasn’t what she needed just as she was about to go out and perform at the Olympics.

A distraction was welcomed though as Isane was announced and both Rukia and Byakuya turned their attention to the TV in the corner showing the nervous looking Japanese woman as she skated out into the centre of the ice. Isane took up her starting pose and began to skate her short programme, it was the same as her heats. Rukia would be the only one stupid enough to bring out a new routine in the finals. The Irish woman held her breath as it came time for her first jump. Isane kicked off from the ice with enough speed and power and halfway through the jump Rukia could already tell that she’d landed it. Isane’s blade hit the ice perfectly, her free leg swinging free and beamed happily as she then moved into a short step sequence.

Rukia hadn’t even registered when she’d stood up from the ground and made her way over to the TV. She didn’t realise until Isane’s performance was almost over, that she’d moved. Byakuya had too, the two of them gravitating toward the TV. On her final jump she stepped out but the GoE (grade of execution) she lost for it was minimal. When the Japanese woman struck her final pose Rukia was cheering even though she was backstage and no one could hear her.

Even Byakuya was clapping appreciatively.

‘Going to be the best score of the day so far,’ he commented and Rukia nodded, she knew he was right. Byakuya was one of these people who were just… _intelligent_. Some people were born smart, like him and some had to learn to become smart like Rukia. Half the time he would be doing mental math, calculating the points for the jumps and deducting the GoE or adding the positive GoE himself as it flashed up on the screen, he was almost always very close to the judges’ final score. It was a very useful skill to have.

Isane’s score came up, 76.9, and her season best for her short programme. Rukia cheered again and danced back to her mat, while her brother followed looking a little more tolerant of her antics than he usually was.

Soon Hiyori was being called out onto the ice, representing Russia and Rukia glanced up at the screen, the young girl looked confident as she took to the centre of the ice. Her face smirking and she struck up her starting pose. As Rukia watched the girl danced effortlessly and Rukia knew, she _knew_ that this was going to be the score to beat.

The blonde’s routine was polished, she’d moved her jump combinations around and managed to land a lot of the jumps with arms above her head for extra points. Rukia’s jaw clenched as she landed the final jump perfectly and spun into her final pose, fist pumping the air when she was finished. That had been a sensational routine and Rukia actually felt a little bit of doubt nip at her heart.

80.21 and a new world record.

Rukia felt her heart sink but her brother was by her side.

‘Don’t let that get to you Rukia, you can get just as close to that with your short and even if you miss out by a couple of points your free skate will make the ground,’ Byakuya said firmly but his words didn’t help. Rukia was relying on a solid foundation from her short programme to help her free skate, given how little she’d been able to practice the routine.

A feeling worse than doubt started to settle in her stomach now; fear.

She swallowed thickly and watched as the Russian walked away from the kiss and cry, another Russian skating out into the rink as Rukia was told to get ready. She’d be skating after this girl. Byakuya turned the television off and ushered Rukia along. She went with him, not really able to feel her body, emotions she’d not experienced for years in her competitive career making themselves feel at home again in her mind.

It was dangerous, as a skating routine was skated just as much with the mind as it was with the body and she knew that. Rukia stepped out onto the ice as soon as the last skater exited to get their score. The camera following them and leaving Rukia a last moment of privacy before the world would be watching.

Byakuya placed a comforting hand on top of Rukia’s and she glanced up at him. His brows were furrowed and the dark patches under his eyes seemed even darker in the harsh arena lights.

‘Whatever is on your mind,’ he said his voice low so only she could hear, ‘leave it here with me, I will look after it until you come back.’

It was a visualisation technique they used to do back when she was incredibly nervous about performing, he could clearly see the nerves in her face which meant that others would too as soon as the camera was on her. Rukia fixed a stoic expression on her face and Byakuya squeezed her hand. She nodded to him and as soon as her name was announced, she knew the cameras focus was back on her.

‘Go and skate a routine she’d have loved,’ Byakuya said with a smile. Rukia smiled back at him and nodded, skating away from the side of the rink with her hands outstretched, envisioning leaving everything with him.

Rukia skated a spiral out into the centre of the rink, the Olympic rings winking at her from every direction, and tried to force the thought out of her head that she was in the biggest competition of her life. She took a deep breath and shook her shoulder and arms before catching the side of her blade and stopping in the centre of the rink. The cold damp smell of the ice below her grounded her thoughts as she took up her starting position. 

The beat of silence before her music began seemed to last minutes and yet it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. It was enough time for all the thoughts she’d tried to leave with her brother to leap back across the ice toward her and as the music started she already felt stiff and weighed down. Skating backwards she struck out another pose in time with the music but the sexuality was gone. The fluidity of her movements wasn’t present like it had been in her heat and she felt like she was chasing herself, trying to work extra hard at making her movements graceful in a way she’d not needed to do since she was a very young skater.

Her nerves were starting to show out on the ice.

Rukia’s first jump came up and she landed it, albeit, more shakily than she had in practice and when she launched into her spin she tried to visualise everything weighing her down spinning away from her. The thoughts about Toshiro and their growing… _relationship_ , had to be shelved, the thoughts about the Russian who broke her record, had to be gone, the thoughts about Ireland slamming her if she didn’t bring home an Olympic medal, needed to disappear and the thought of her upcoming free skate had to take a back seat.

It was easier to visualise than it was to actually achieve though and when she geared up for her triple lutz Rukia already knew she was going down. Her hip hit the ice hard, the crack and pain she felt shoot up her spine, but she gritted her teeth and was back on her feet in a flash. The faster you got up the less GoE that was deducted from the lost jump.

Rukia tried her best to push that thought from her mind too… the fact it had been the lutz… _her lutz_ that she’d fallen on. It must have been an omen for what was to come. It was another thought she tried to force from her mind. Toshiro’s hands on her body, her hands on _his_ body. The things she’d do to him again if she got him alone, how she’d make him feel, these were the thought she needed for this routine.

The more she forced those thoughts into her head the less room there were for the negative ones. Rukia entered the second half of her programme in much better shape than her first half, using the images of the night on the desk to propel her through the sexiest part of her routine. Her last three jumps she landed more smoothly and with it her confidence grew.

Rukia barely registered the end of her performance, finishing up in her final finish pose before breaking position to curse down at the ice.

Despite the second half being better, that had been her worst performance in years and she knew she was going to be dwelling on it for a long time to come. Rukia smiled and waved politely to the audience who were there to support her, a number of Irish flags waving around the arena and she knew Gin and Soi Fon were somewhere up in the stands. She didn’t seek out their faces though instead choosing to make her exit off the ice. Rukia wanted the short programme scoring over with so she could think about how she moved on and managed to pull something impossible out of her hat for the Free Skate.

Byakuya looked worried, torn between concern and his usual anger but he didn’t say anything as she stepped off the ice and slipped her skate guards on. Rukia could feel the sweat on her brow, feel it running down her temples and as they made their way to the kiss and cry for her scores she wiped at her forehead.

Maybe she was coming down with what her brother had after all? That thought sent an uncomfortable wave of nausea down into her stomach, she couldn’t afford to get sick.

While they settled down into their seats, Byakuya handed Rukia her phone back, she took it without looking, not wanting to see any of the possible messages she’d have right now. Instead she watched as her brother frowned down at his phone and he stood up and left.

Byakuya left her?

Rukia stared after him dumfounded as he disappeared off to take a call!

It took a beat for the sheer shock to set in, before it was replaced with a wave of anger. Whatever the fuck the call was it wasn’t as important as this. This was the Olympics and she’d just given a performance that was clear she needed the support from her coach.

What coach took a call during such an important moment?

Rukia felt so angry sitting there, in the kiss and cry waiting for her scores by herself… then a new feeling washed over her.

Loneliness.

Rukia had felt it before, of course, when she was home alone or training in the months when Gin wasn’t around, but she’d never ever felt it here, at an event surrounded by so many people.

She realised that Gin and Byakuya were the only two people she had left in her life, if anything happened to them… if they just decided to move on one day…

There was nothing holding Byakuya to her, not really. He could go and remarry, find someone else and settle back down, maybe have a child or two. Gin could move back to Scotland at any point, or back to his mothers’ side of the family in Japan and Rukia would be left with no one. 

That thought made her swallow thickly and she did her best to appear normal in front of the camera despite the crushing feeling inside her as she sat and got the announcement of her scores alone.

76.89.

It wasn’t as bad as she’d thought and Rukia let her shoulders relax a little but she was still three points behind the leader and would be expected to make that up in the free skate. The camera went to the next contestant out on the ice and still Byakuya hadn’t returned.

Feeling an oddly emotional lump in her throat Rukia scowled and stood up, it was easier to turn it to anger than it was to admit she was genuinely hurt by his abandonment.

‘Where coach?’ one of the staff members asked as Rukia attempted to make her way back through to the ladies changing room without him.

‘I don’t know,’ she snapped back at the poor man. He seemed to frown at her English.

‘You are alone?’ he asked but she stormed passed him.

Yes she was.

Completely and utterly alone.

Against her fingers her phone buzzed and she glanced down to see a text message come in from Toshiro. It brought a new lump into her throat.

**Toshiro, 12:33pm:** Hey beautiful, how did it go? :)

She didn’t have the energy to reply to him yet and knew he probably wouldn’t be expecting one right after her performance anyway. There were too many thoughts bouncing around in her head and she was already on a tight schedule.

Getting showered and changed as quickly as she could, Rukia darted out of the arena, the thought of facing her brother or Gin right now weighed inside her like stone, she had business to attend too and needed to focus on that instead. The emails were coming through thick and fast from Chris the sound guy, she hadn’t realised when she’d given the number to the janitor that it was Christophe Giacometti! The famous figure skater! He’d won several silver and bronze medals over the course of his career even taking gold at a few European championships. He was retired now and seemed to be helping to run the large rink in Switzerland where they were all competing. Her emotions had warmed considerably and she’d even managed to text Toshiro back a quick; “not good, talk later,” text.

The thought of meeting Christophe had an overwhelming effect on her in the most positive way possible. He wanted to meet with her immediately after her skate because it was the only time he could spare and had agreed to meet her in the hotel restaurant. His husband ran the kitchen there, it was how the two had met, Chris had already mentioned it on his email and Rukia may have had it clarified by his Wikipedia page. She slipped into the restaurant which was larger than the one at their hotel and had a long mahogany bar. Several servers were walking around carrying trays of food and the place was filled with the bubble of conversation.

Rukia spotted him straight away. Chris was just an inch shorter than Gin with dyed blond hair and bright green eyes. He wore a suit and as she approached he beamed up at her and waved her down, standing politely until she was seated.

‘I am not dressed for lunch,’ she made a joke out of her hastily tied up hair and Olympic uniform in its imposing bring green colours. Chris waved her off with a chuckle.

‘Don’t you worry,’ he said fondly, ‘it’s nice to finally meet you, congratulations on placing second in your short. It was a very good programme, one I’d have enjoyed skating too.’ His heavy Swiss accent cut the words in an interesting way and Rukia felt herself smile almost sheepishly at the compliment.

‘What a time to choke and fall though,’ Rukia said with a sigh as a waiter came to take her drink order, ‘I’ve not fallen in ages and now I choose the Olympics to do it at.’ She sighed feeling her shoulders slump.

Chris surveyed her over the top of his freshly poured glass of wine.

‘Clearly there’s something on your mind, and I assume that’s why you fell?’ he asked simply taking a sip and tilting his head just as the waiter returned with her fresh apple juice.

‘You’d be right,’ Rukia said with a smile.

‘Is this about the snowboarder?’ his eyes lit up immediately, ‘because he’s very attractive I could see you-’

‘No, no,’ Rukia said quickly feeling that familiar feeling of heat rising into her cheeks against her will causing Chris to smirk triumphantly at her, ‘not him, though I have to wonder why everyone keeps assuming…’

‘Girl, please,’ Chris rolled his eyes, ‘I shared the RukiShiro hashtag as soon as it was invented, I’m part of the reason for it becoming a trending topic.’

Rukia groaned in her embarrassment and put her face in her hands.

‘But if it’s not about that,’ he said his accent changing slightly with the touch of amusement in his voice, ‘then what’s it about?’

‘I need to change my free skate music,’ Rukia deflected instantly, ‘without my coach knowing.’

Chris froze in his seat, his question being interrupted as someone came to take their food order. Without him having to ask again, Rukia launched into an explanation. She told him everything, everything except her strained relationship with her brother… she just mentioned that they didn’t particularly see eye to eye when it came to routines.

Rukia told him about Japan about the programme and why it was important to her. He sat and listened carefully, only asking the occasional question and she finished just as their lunch was being brought out. He took his first few bites chewing thoughtfully.

‘Naturally,’ Chris said, ‘I love a risk.’

Rukia smiled at him.

‘But I don’t think it’s a good idea.’

She felt her heart sink.

‘You’re clearly not ready to perform it Rukia, you’re a smart girl I’ve followed your career for years now. You’ve been at the top, undefeated and I understand,’ he added quickly stopping her from mentioning yet again about the Russian who broke her record, ‘that you have concerns but you’re not ready to skate this routine Rukia.’

‘Yes I am,’ she said firmly, before swallowing, ‘I have to be.’

Chris surveyed her for a moment over his glass of wine then sighed.

‘Fine, I will do as you ask, email me across the file and it will be done.’ He said and Rukia felt a weight lift, just as a new one settled, ‘and Rukia?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Don’t fuck it up,’ Chris frowned, his brows furrowed in the centre and she nodded, putting her knife and fork down because she suddenly didn’t feel very hungry.

‘What the hell is this?’ a familiar voice said directly behind her. Rukia almost jumped and spun around, standing behind her was Toshiro’s sisters. Karin loomed over her with her arms folded and her jaw set while Yuzu seem to hang back behind her looking a little uncomfortable with the situation.

‘What is what?’ Rukia asked, her eyebrows shooting up as she tried to process what the hell Karin was talking about.

‘This,’ she waved at the table, ‘you on a date?’

‘Um,’ Rukia blinked, she had no idea what the hell was happening as she turned to glance back at Chris for help. Chris was no help though, actually he was the opposite of helpful sending her playful wink over his wine before taking a drink that just seemed to rile Karin up more.

‘No?’ Rukia turned back with a frown, ‘Karin what’s wrong?’

‘Karin, let’s go,’ Yuzu said timidly from behind her tugging on her sister’s sleeve, ‘that’s Christophe, it’s not a date I know that now…’ her voice was very low but it didn’t really seem to do anything to sooth Karin.

‘What exactly are your intentions with my brother?’ Karin asked firmly.

‘With Toshiro?’ Rukia asked blinking dumbly at her. What the fuck was going on?

‘What did you forget his name already?’ she sassed back, Yuzu groaned behind her and sent Rukia and Chris an apologetic look.

‘Well I-I,’ Rukia stammered because she didn’t actually have a response. She felt so caught off guard.

‘Yes Rukia,’ Chris supplied unhelpfully, ‘even I would _love_ to know your intentions with this gorgeous snowboarder.’

‘Not helping Chris,’ Rukia shot him a look and Karin glanced at him.

‘I’m gay sweetie,’ Chris said to Karin with a smirk holding up his hand to flash a stunning diamond ring, ‘and married.’

‘Oh,’ Karin seemed to deflate a little but she didn’t seem to want to let the topic go. She continued to eye Rukia as if still waiting for an answer.

‘Toshiro and I are… we’re just… well I’m just-’ Rukia could feel the colour rising back into her cheeks. A fuck buddy? An Olympic fling? Just sex?

There were loads of ways of describing their relationship but she didn’t seem like any one of them fully fitted the situation.

‘Karin,’ Yuzu said again tugging at her sleeve, ‘you’ll piss Toshiro off if he finds out we did this.’

‘I want to know,’ Karin said firmly looking pointedly at Rukia, ‘my brother is one of the most amazing people on this planet and he deserves the best.’

Rukia swallowed because she was far from that. She was incredibly, totally, one hundred percent, damaged goods.

‘We’re just seeing where things go,’ Rukia finally said more firmly, ‘I’ve not even spoken to him about it all yet. So forgive me but I don’t think I should be having the conversation with his sisters in the middle of a crowded restaurant.’

‘Karin, Toshiro is a grown man he can make his own decisions,’ Yuzu said finally tugging her sister once again as Karin and Rukia stared each other down. After a few beats, Karin seemed to relent against her sisters tugging, but the tension didn’t leave her body or her gaze. 

‘Fine, Yuzu let’s go,’ she said firmly walking out without waiting on her.

‘I’m really sorry Rukia,’ Yuzu said sounding like she was.

‘It’s okay,’ Rukia felt her body relax and she smiled at the girl, ‘Chris is the sound engineer at the rink I was just getting his help to change my music for my free,’ she felt the need to explain further, for fear anything did get back to Toshiro.

Yuzu nodded her head firmly before Karin called after her and the young blonde turned and ran toward her sister.

‘Sorry about that,’ Rukia said turning back to Chris who was just smiling at her.

‘Not to worry,’ he said finishing his wine, ‘I have to dash off anyway, the meal is covered, courtesy of my better half.’ He winked down at her as he stood up to put on his coat.

‘Thank you Chris,’ Rukia said as they made their way out into the hotel lobby. She went to shake his hand but he pulled her in for a tight hug instead which she returned with a smile. He let her go and made his way over to the stairs to take him back to whatever floor he was needed on and Rukia made her way out and back over to her own hotel, no idea how she was planning on spending the day.

‘Great, Rukia, perfect,’ a familiar voice called and Rukia glanced up to see Renji. He was standing just outside the entrance to their hotel in his vivid Ireland uniform, the green and blue jacket clashing with his hair in such an interesting way. She grinned at him and he smirked down at her. ‘I need your help.’

‘What do you want my help with?’ she asked blinking dumbly.

‘I want to prank Ichigo,’ he smirked and she rolled her eyes, ‘is this because he took second place at the Olympics and you didn’t?’ she asked harshly but Renji could take it. He clasped his hands over his heart looking mortally hurt but then smiled.

‘No of course not… well maybe a little, it will cheer me up, please?’ Renji asked and Rukia sighed, how could she deny such a request?

‘Okay what do you want me to do?’ she asked.

‘Ichigo said he was going to come over to my room tonight to… uh… “celebrate” his victory,’ Renji said with a smirk as Rukia rolled her eyes, ‘just wait here for him and chat to him. Tell him that I don’t want to see him because I didn’t place and I need some space right now, so if he could give me it, I’d appreciate it.’

‘That’s fucking evil,’ Rukia said glaring at him.

‘Wait a minute I’m not done,’ Renji held his hands up defensively, ‘just keep him on this mark I’ve got here which is directly under the balcony, I’ve convinced the Thai guys to let me use their room to dunk water on his head. Sound good?’

The mark he had referenced was actually a painfully obvious “x” in the snow, which Rukia hadn’t noticed until he’d pointed it out and now wondered how she’d missed it.

‘You’re fucking mental,’ she groaned bringing a hand up to her forehead but laughing all the same. This little challenge was almost exactly what she needed to take her mind off the day she’d been having up until this point.

‘I know,’ he laughed. He confirmed her understanding and disappeared back inside the hotel. Rukia had to wonder just how long she was expected to wait for the strawberry blond and was considering just pulling her phone out when she spotted the tuft of orange hair bounding over. Ichigo was wearing his silver Olympic medal and Rukia smiled at him, he was beaming and looking incredibly proud of himself as he caught sight of her.

‘Hey Rukia!’ he called.

‘Hey Ichigo,’ she said, ‘congratulations on your medal! Can I see it?’ she hadn’t seen one up close yet.

‘Of course,’ Ichigo looked like he had already been requested this several times and had nothing at all but patience for the request as he stepped over to her allowed her to lift it up in her dainty hands. It was a handsome medal, thick and heavy, the basic circular design was embellished around the outside and the centre featured the Swiss Alps with the Olympic rings above it. The silver caught the light in a more interesting way than the gold did and Rukia thought she might prefer it. The colour was more handsome but in a subtle and modest kind of way compared to harsh brazen look of the gold.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Rukia grinned up at him before taking a step back. He was now in the exact spot Renji wanted him.

‘Thank you,’ Ichigo beamed happily down it, ‘no doubt you’ll have one of your own soon though.’ He said and Rukia flinched but recovered before he looked up.

‘Are you going to see Renji?’ Rukia asked him and Ichigo nodded.

‘Yeah I was just-’

‘Look Ichigo,’ Rukia said with a dramatic sigh, ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea.’

The strawberry blonds face crumpled.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Renji has been… upset since his defeat, he put a brave face on when you were there and the cameras were on him but he’s a lot more upset than he’s letting on. He doesn’t want to see you right now,’ Rukia said watching the hurt flash across Ichigo’s face and his shoulders, so full of pride before, deflating. 

‘But I-’

‘GARDYLOO!’ a voice called above and Ichigo looked up just in time to be hit with a very large spray of water. Rukia leapt back with a yelp having not expected it to be so much and gazed, shocked, at Ichigo as he cursed and shook himself.

‘Oh hey beautiful, I didn’t see you down there.’ Renji’s voice called from above, the sound of the Thai men laughing could be heard.

‘I’m going to fucking kill you,’ Ichigo snarled up at him.

‘Can it wait until after our romantic hot tub date?’ Renji replied and that seemed to catch Ichigo’s attention.

‘What?’

‘Yeah I have a tub reserved for us in an hour, so how about we get you out of those wet clothes and into something warm?’ Renji asked and Rukia could see the warmth flood back into Ichigo’s gaze as he stared up at the man, a ghost of a smile starting to appear.

‘Really?’

‘Unless you’d rather freeze your balls off down there mate,’ Renji laughed and Ichigo flipped him off.

‘Hey Renji?’ Rukia asked, suddenly getting an idea, ‘how do we book a hot tub?’

It was odd to hover over Toshiro’s name on her phone and know she might be hearing his voice in just a few seconds. Rukia wasn’t sure if she was prepared for how that sexy Australian accent would sound over the tiny mobile device, but Gin was bouncing on the edge of her bed encouraging her and so she rolled her eyes and hit the dial icon.

It took a few rings before Toshiro picked up.

‘Rukia?’ he questioned, almost as if he didn’t quite believe she was calling. His tone was curious, happy, unsure, it seemed to be a lot of things rolled into one.

‘Hey,’ she just barely missed out on calling him handsome because Gin was sitting right on the edge of her bed looking like a puppy with a restless tail, ‘are you and Rangiku free tonight?’ Rukia asked.

‘Rangiku and I?’ Toshiro seemed even more puzzled at this question, his accent and voice adorably lower on the phone than it was in real life, ‘I think so why? Not going to ask for a threesome are you because it just ain’t my style.’

His tone was light and playful and she laughed into the phone.

Maybe he was just picking up on her morbid sense of humour and doing it to make her laugh or maybe his sense of humour was just as sick as hers.

‘No, nothing like that,’ Rukia replied, ‘I just know that you two have had a hard day training and thought maybe you’d like to come with Gin and I to a private little hot tub party. Just the four of us, I’ve already got it reserved.’

‘Oh,’ his voice perked up and he sounded almost excited, ‘I’ll ask Rangiku and let you know but that sounds amazing. I’ll definitely be there!’

‘Sounds good, Handsome,’ she’d been unable to stop herself that time and Gin’s head snapped around so fast it looked like he’d given himself whiplash. He raised a large hand and rubbed at his neck and Rukia refused to meet his gaze.

‘I’ll let you know,’ Toshiro’s voice had turned playful, flirty even and Rukia couldn’t stop the grin as he bid her farewell and hung up the phone.

‘Since when were the two of yeh usin’ pet names?’ Gin asked blinking at her.

‘We’re not talking about that either,’ she’d forbidden a lot of topics with him when he’d come by to see her after her short programme. They weren’t allowed to discuss her routine, Byakuya leaving, her free skate and now they weren’t allowed to discuss her pet names with Toshiro.

‘When am ah allowed tae talk tae yeh aboot it then?’ Gin asked with an eye roll.

‘After my free skate, I will do all of the talking, all of the answering of personal questions after the main event of my competitive career. Seem fair?’ Rukia asked offering him a raised eyebrow. Gin pursed his lips for a moment but finally nodded, slowly, obediently and Rukia relaxed. 

Toshiro only took half an hour before he sent Rukia a video as a response to her question. The video was short, but had Rangiku jumping excitedly in the background apparently exuberant about the hot tub and Toshiro grinning into the screen confirming their attendance. When Gin wasn’t looking Rukia saved the video into her private folder on her phone and pocketed her device before instructing Gin to get ready.

The small changing room was no bigger than a bedroom but Rukia hadn't really expected much else, there was one toilet that (thankfully) had a door but looked like it did both genders. Once they stepped in Gin looked relieved that Rukia had text him telling him to put his swimming trunks on under his clothes, considering they knew that Rangiku and Tosh were on their way over the two could walk in any minute. Rukia dumped her stuff down on the small bench that sat against one of the walls, then walked over and opened the glass doors out onto the hot tub. She grinned happily at the sight, the staff had already fired it up for them and the hot tub could easily fit a maximum of ten people, so they were going to have a lot of fun.

The tub was set on wooding decking that had been cleared of snow, the sight of the massive mountains rose up in the background where they'd have an excellent view. The giant mountain was lit up as there were likely still people training and practicing. Rukia was sure some Biathlon event was happening that evening too, considering she'd heard some of the other athletes talking about it when she apprehended the ping pong balls. There were clearly hot tubs to the left and right, but there was a wall up to prevent people from seeing each other and Rukia couldn't make out individual words, just the hum of voices talking and laughing. There were fairy lights of icy blue which hung across the separating walls and Rukia thought that the whole scene looked genuinely romantic actually. Clearly this was used for couples or families who came here on expensive holidays.

'It's really pretty,' Gin said clearly echoing her thoughts of the setting being romantic. 'Did yeh bring the ping pong balls?' he asked as he stared outside. There was a small game room for the athletes and Rukia was pleased when she'd found a game online they could all play in the hot tub, hence the thievery of the ping pong balls.

'Yeah I got them,' Rukia stepped back inside now, hesitating in pulling her clothing off until Rangiku and Toshiro arrived because it would be fucking cold waiting outside the tub and she didn't want to get in without them there. She'd had a wave of apprehension being around Rangiku in a bikini. Rukia had seen the woman’s Insatgram account and knew no one could pull off beach bod like Rangiku Matsumoto. Next to her Rukia felt a tiny bit insecure but considering it was just Gin and Toshiro, both of whom had already seen her naked on several occasions she tried to swallow down her unease. Instead of undressing Rukia went about pulling out the alcohol they'd managed to swipe and put it on the bench. Gin pulled four plastic tumblers from inside his own bag and they chatted about breaking one of the icicles off to use as ice in their drinks.

Rukia hadn't even heard the door open behind them over the noise of her trying to dislodge the small box of ping pong balls from her bag. Seriously why did women carry so much shit? So she jumped when she felt a pair of warm strong arms wrap securely around her and felt Toshiro bury his nose into her hair. Smirking a little to herself, and feeling heat rising in her cheeks as she heard Rangiku call something out, Rukia tried to twist around in his tight grip so she could hug him properly. She could practically feel Gin's gleeful stare but the man was eventually distracted by Toshiro's pretty blonde friend as he asked her opinion on the icicles out on the decking.

'Hello, Handsome,' Rukia said, only a hint of teasing to her voice as she wrapped her arms around his back and buried her face into his chest. His scent was familiar and fresh. It reminded her of the evergreen trees that could only grow in the cold wintry climates. Knowing that Gin was distracted for a while, Rukia breathed Toshiro’s scent in and allowed her eyes to close in bliss, doing her best not to overthink the moment and instead just appreciate it for what it was.

Rukia had never been held like this before, not since the loss of her sister. Gin had hugged her sure, but this was different. She could literally feel the weight of everything that had happened that day, every fleeting insecurity, the dull throb of her failed jump and her second place, seep gently out of her. Rukia felt him press his lips against her forehead a thrum of content ran through her body all the way down to her toes at the contact.

'Hey, Beautiful, I missed you today,' Toshiro said it so casually and yet she felt weight behind these words, by the sounds of things he'd not had a good day either. With a deep sigh she slid out of his grasp glancing up into that painfully attractive face and seeing a depth of emotion there that she'd never seen before.

'I believe some hot water and alcohol is calling our name?' she smirked up at him before reaching down and pulling her jumper up off over her head. She'd already had her bikini on under her uniform thankfully and after much deliberation had decided to go with the black piece because she figured it would look sexier. The piece had a thin strap but crisscrossed at the back coming around her chest to hug her breasts before crossing at the front too just under her cleavage. The pants barely had any material to them at all and tied in two cute bows on either side of her hips... she'd hoped that maybe they'd look tempting to undo if they did have any kind of opportunity and if not, at least would serve to tease him. She pulled her trousers down and off folding everything up and sitting it down on the bench beside her bag.

‘Fuck you're hot,’ Rangiku whistled at her. Rukia relaxed a little at Rangiku's compliment and grinned at the woman.

'So are you,' Rukia returned the compliment. Rangiku was sporting a stunning Roxy bikini set of blue and white patterns, which hugged her breasts beautifully.

‘She's not wrong about that,’ Toshiro drawled, turning back to Rukia. She smirked at him as he agreed with Rangiku and placed his hands on her hips. She could feel her skin burning at his touch, against the harsh cold wind cutting through the space from the open doors, his hands felt like a million degrees and as they fell to rest on her hips her smirk only widened knowing he was thinking exactly what she'd wanted him too as his fingers made contact with the ties of her pants. Rukia could hear Gin babble uselessly behind them at a comment Rangiku made and Rukia remembered the pills that she'd brought with her, this would be the perfect opportunity for him to try the kalm’s pills and see if they worked for him to just help get over this initial unease... Rukia made a mental note to pull him to the side as soon as she could and tell him to take one. Toshiro stepped away from her and went about undoing his belt, Rukia watched eagerly like he was the most interesting episode of Game of Thrones. When he dropped his trousers she made a sound she hadn't quite expected to come out of her mouth.

Fuck.

His trunks were Quiksilver branded, she recognised the logo right away and they were coloured with a gradient going from dark blue down to a very light bright aqua blue... but it wasn't the colour that had drawn her attention. They were incredibly tight. Like very tight. Like that Calvin Klein underwear shoot kind of tight. She bit her lip, his bulge was actually incredibly obvious and Rukia had to wonder if he'd known they'd look like that and he'd just wore them for her or if he'd not expected it himself... he seemed a little too modest from the little she knew of his personality and these trunks screamed the opposite.

‘They're environmentally friendly,’ Toshiro blurted out, ‘Ran made me wear them... for you,’ of course, from what she knew of him she knew he loved the environment. Rukia was pleased Rangiku had managed to wrestle him into them because it was going to make this whole experience a lot more fun. Rukia cleared her throat just barely resisting reaching out and touching him before she picked up the box of ping pong balls.

'Okay let's go,' Rukia mumbled quickly noting how her voice was a few octaves higher than she'd expected. Without looking back Rukia made her way over to the open door and saw Gin with a large icicle in his hand looking pleased with himself as he set it down at their makeshift little bar area. Rukia put the packet of balls in one of the cup holders just outside the hot tub and moved around to start separating the plastic cups for drinks. At least they were the hard reusable plastic cups so hopefully Toshiro didn't have an issue drinking from them.

‘What are the ping pong balls for?’ Toshiro asked as he and Rangiku followed them out toward the hot tub.

'They float in the water an' we turn oan the jets,' Gin explained, 'whoever is first tae be touched by yin has tae dae a forefit. It was Rukia's game,' he said with a devilish grin at Toshiro.

Oh yes Rukia had some interesting forfeits planned for the evening. A smirk crossed her face as the sound of Gin and Rangiku getting into the hot tub behind her. Rukia placed the four cups down and set about pouring a healthy amount of alcohol into each knowing that the hot tub would make them drunk faster. She'd managed to swipe one of the pills for Gin and held it in her hand, before glancing up at Toshiro.

'Can you break up the icicle please?' she didn't trust herself not to drop or crush the pill and she hoped that maybe Tosh would just think she wanted a valiant display of his strength instead of hiding a secret in her hand.

‘Of course,’ Toshiro murmured, setting to work on the icicle and making sure a generous portion of ice was put into every cup. Pleased that Toshiro was helping, Rukia topped the rest of the vodka up with the only mixer Gin had managed to purchase; Sprite. Not that it was a bad choice, just she'd been hoping for something a little fruitier. She poured the light version into her own cup, taking the purple one for herself because it was one of her favourite colours and filling the other three up with the normal version of the drink.

'Karin told me,' Toshiro said clearing his throat, 'uh that she saw you today and she... well, she used the word "asked" but I know her and... uh, I'm just - just sorry, that she did that. She doesn't really know how to just _not_ , you know?' he said sounding more than a little unsure of himself and the topic. Rukia could feel the heat in her cheeks at the mention, Karin had caused a bit of a scene but the only real embarrassing thing about it was that Rukia had felt embarrassed about it happening in front of Christophe. She'd looked up to the ex Swiss skater for a while growing up too and he was happily married, that still didn't seem to stop Karin grilling her in front of him though.

'Its fine,' Rukia said trying to brush it off, 'I guess I should have given you a heads up. Because Byakuya doesn't know what I'm planning to do with my Free skate I needed Christophe on my side. But he's an ex figure skater himself, so I knew he'd need a bit of convincing that was all. I guess I never really thought much more of it.' She shrugged as if to signify she didn't want to touch the topic again. Which she didn't, she'd been questioning herself all afternoon since the confrontation about what the heck she was actually doing with Toshiro and if he seemed to think this was going somewhere even after the Olympics were done? They were some big heavy questions and she had decided to postpone them until after her and Toshiro's final at least so that they wouldn't get distracted with... with... _feelings_.

‘Here, let me take these,’ he sighed, taking three of the cups and heading in the direction of the hot tub. Rukia screwed the cap back onto the vodka bottle to stop it falling and spilling out everywhere by accident and was careful with the pill in her hand as she turned around. First thing she clocked was a massive bruise on Toshiro’s back, it looked painful and only in its infancy which meant it was likely new. Even though she hadn't seen him in a few days she knew the look of a new bruise when she saw one. Opening her mouth to comment though she suddenly realised that Toshiro had stopped in his tracks and watched as Gin and Rangiku were literally centimetres away from each other, about to kiss.

_COME ON GIN_ Rukia screamed at him internally, urging him with all her might, all he had to do was tilt his chin down a little more and lean forward and that would be him. The moment seemed to stretch forever though it couldn't have been more than a few seconds before Gin chickened out. Flushing he leaned away and his eyes caught sight of Rukia and Toshiro, he looked pleased for the distraction.

'Is tha' the drinks?' he asked quickly and Rukia sighed. Mentally she was kicking his ass all up and down the snow slope, Rangiku looked disappointed as she pulled away from him and Gin made his way over to the side, hand outstretched to help Toshiro carry the three cups. It was time for the pill. Rukia straightened up, fixed Gin with a determined look and marched over to him as he took two of the drinks from Toshiro and put them in the cup holders over at the other side. He looked guilty and when Rukia got to him she leaned down into his space and whispered to him.

'Take this, it's a kalms pill, it should help with the anxiety around Rangiku.' Gin looked extremely put out that he even needed a pill in the first place just to exist around her but he took it anyway and washed it down with a gulp of the vodka.

'Thanks,' he muttered back and Rukia, who didn't want to be rude, didn't whisper back but simply stood up and put her drink in one of the holders before slipping into the hot water beside her best friend.

'So this game,' Toshiro said, 'the balls float around and if you get touched you have to do a dare as a forfeit?'

'Aye,' Gin said, his eyes flickering to Rangiku and Rukia prayed that the goddamn pills would work, 'did yeh bring the balls?'

'We got four in the pool already,' Rukia smirked back at him but reached over and opened the box of plastic balls. There were about eight or so balls in the packet, who was counting? She tipped them into the water and grinned.

'Is there anything that is absolutely off limit to anyone?' she asked.

'Ah'm nae daein' skinny dippin' naked again,' Gin glared at her.

'Fine,' she rolled her eyes, 'no skinny dipping or nudity? Anything else? Before we get started?'

‘I’m up for anything,’ Rangiku drawled taking a drink and holding Rukia’s gaze. Rukia smirked at Rangiku over the top of her plastic cup, she was actually starting to grow rather fond of the other woman. She could definitely see the appeal and why Gin was completely and utterly smitten.

'Me too,' Toshiro shrugged, 'but I would prefer if this didn’t get back to my sisters.' He shot a glare at Rukia and that only made her smirk wider at him, a twinkle in her eye that held _no_ promise to uphold that at all.

'All I ask is I'm not asked to consume anything other than the alcohol,' it was a common condition she had to any games she'd played and one Gin had heard a number of times so he simply nodded. Being a figure skater was ridiculous, two pounds extra could alter her centre of gravity and that was the difference between landing a jump and crumpling to the ice.

'Everyone clear on the rules?' Rukia asked, her eyes trained in on the tiny little floating balls as they bubbled and bounced. She was pleased that they were bright orange in colour because it made them much easier to see, 'will we get started?'

Toshiro started up the jets and Rukia moved quickly to slide away from one that shot in her direction. She was pleased she didn't have her cup in her hand because the alcohol would have ended up in the water as she scampered out of the way. Rukia refused to lose the first round.

'Fuck,' Gin growled as the jets caused four balls to chase him into the side and two of them attacked him at once.

'You lose,' Rukia chuckled at him as he flicked water at her.

'It's no fair, yer much wee-er than ah am!' Gin growled at her and she smiled devilishly at him, causing him to look apprehensive.

'Stand outside the tub for five minutes,' Rukia smirked and he groaned. Of course he was used to being very cold, considering all the mental things he did such as snowboarding in a Hawaiian shirt but that didn't mean he'd appreciate being made to stand outside the very hot tub he'd just got in, dripping wet. He dutifully did it though, choosing to stand and lean against the balcony. Rukia's eyes were instantly on Rangiku's face, because she knew Gin had a nice body, it was one of the reasons why she'd even considered dating him in the first place. Gin was rocking a pair of lose fitting Hawaiian style trunks which featured a blue to green to yellow sky sunset and black palm trees. Unlike Toshiro's it didn't really show anything off, but what he lacked showing off in that area he made up for with a well-proportioned and fit build.

'How lang has it been?' he asked, the cold evident in his voice as Rukia smirked leaning over to tap her phone gently with a dry finger.

'Three minutes.'

Rangiku had her eyes fully trained in on Gin and Rukia relaxed a little. It was very clear she was into him, how could he not see that? It settled something in Rukia’s mind, another devilish smirk lighting her features, the next time Gin lost she knew exactly what she was going to make him do.

'Five minutes!' Rangiku called finally and Gin came bounding back, he looked frozen and Rukia heard his suffering groan as he slid back into the water.

'Ready for round two?' Toshiro asked and Rukia nodded. He didn't wait for any verbal communication though and switched the jets back on. Rukia kept her eyes on the balls but also tried to keep an eye on everyone else as well to ensure no one was cheating. Though she didn't have to wait long because Gin, still stiff with the cold from having stood outside, was not able to get out the way fast enough.

'YES!' Rukia called with a triumphant smirk while he groaned in exasperation. 'Let's see you take a body shot off Rangiku then.' Rukia's eyes slid to Rangiku, her devil smile returning to her mouth. Rangiku hadn't said anything was off limits, so she had to assume she'd be fine with this. Gin threw her an incredulous look, like he couldn't believe his best friend would betray him like that.

While Rangiku and Toshiro worked out exactly how Rangiku was to lie down for the body shot Gin looked like a man sentenced to his death. Rukia could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head as she dared a quick jump out of the tub to grab the bottle of vodka. Rukia made her way around the other side of Rangiku, aware of how horrifically cold it was and having a new respect for Gin for lasting five minutes. They hadn’t brought shot glasses with them because Rukia had not been prepared for something like this to happen so as Rangiku lay down she smirked at the taller woman.

‘Stay still,’ she said and flashed Toshiro a look as he was helping her remain balanced. Rukia poured enough vodka directly into Rangiku’s navel because it was the only spot that a shot would stay on her beautifully toned figure. Looking up Gin had his mouth hanging open, his face flushing furiously and he looked at Rukia with a begging stare, a silent cry for help which she, being such a good friend, ignored.

‘Well come on then,’ Rangiku said to Gin with a wink and Gin took a hesitant step forward. Some of the alcohol had dribbled down the side of Rangiku’s stomach as she breathed and Rukia smirked even wider.

‘Don’t forget to get it all,’ Rukia commented and Gin glared at her. He was a nervous wreck around women he liked at times, but there was one thing Gin would never back out of… that was a dare. He stepped up to plate, the plate being the inside of the tub and beside Toshiro, he leaned down and then his lips were making contact with Rangiku’s skin.

Rukia was so proud of him. She grinned over the top of the bottle of vodka, watching as he lapped at the liquid inside her belly button, dipping his tongue in to catch the rest. It caused a stir in her just from watching remembering how Toshiro’s tongue had felt there on her all those evenings ago. Then the half Scot was leading his lips down around her waist to catch the vodka that had escaped before he pulled back looking flushed and dazed. Too busy focused on Gin, Rukia had missed Rangiku’s reaction almost entirely but a quick flick of her gaze to the strawberry blondes face told her that she’d enjoyed that too. Rukia slipped back into the water, shivering and keeping the vodka closer now so they wouldn’t have to jump back out to retrieve it. While Toshiro and Rangiku had a private moment getting themselves corrected and back into the hot tub Gin was looking more than uncomfortable. He swiped at the sweat on his forehead, a furrow in his brow then his eyes went wide… well… wider, like he’d just remembered something. He quickly made his way over to Rukia in the water.

_‘What did yeh dae?’_ he hissed keeping his voice low so that Rangiku and Toshiro couldn’t hear him.

‘What?’ Rukia blinked looking genuinely surprise, what on Earth was he on about?

‘What did yeh gie meh?’ he asked again.

‘Vodka,’ she held up the bottle looking confused but noticing how his face seemed to be flushing redder and redder.

‘No tha’, the _pill!_ ’ he hissed again, ‘where did yeh get the pill fae?’

‘From Renji?’ Rukia blinked and Gin made a hissing noise, his knees sinking down on the seat of the hot tub edge and his face in his hands, his elbows leaning on the external part of the tub. ‘Why?’ She asked.

‘Because they weren’t kalms,’ he groaned and Rukia frowned blinking. They’d looked like kalms? They’d come in the kalms box! They were small and blue and… oh… _oh._ Before Rukia could stop herself she was doubled over in a fit of giggles. She was laughing so hard she genuinely thought she was about to pee in the water. Renji had replaced the stash of kalms with Viagra pills in what was probably his best prank ever since he’d filled Soi Fon’s bag with sex toys. Toshiro and Rangiku had obviously noticed the scene, she was laughing too hard and yet even if they were asking what was going on Rukia couldn’t hear… she couldn’t even _breathe._

‘Yer the worst best friend,’ Gin said loudly as she continued to try and just get a breath into her lungs, ‘honestly. Ah’m disowning you.’

‘Oh my god,’ Rukia gasped, having to hold onto the side of the tub to stop herself from drowning because she was so small and doubled up in fits of giggles, ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

‘Naw yer not, yeh fuckin’ wee gremlin,’ he growled back at her and it just set her off into another massive laughing fit because she knew he was right. She wasn’t sorry at all, she’d have to bend and kiss Renji’s shoes for this one because he’d outdone himself. The prank was just so damn fucking perfect.

‘What’s so funny?’ Rangiku asked and Rukia had a small lull in her laughter to notice that the Australians looked just as humoured as her and yet they didn’t even know.

‘Dinnae yeh dare,’ Gin growled up at her, glaring at out the side of his eye while his head remained in his hands.

‘We have to tell them,’ Rukia explained, loving every damn second of this and trying to think of exactly what she could do to pay Renji back for the giggles later. ‘Otherwise they’ll know something is… _up.’_

‘Yeh were’nae born eh this Earth,’ Gin growled at her, ‘yeh were shot directly oot eh hell ah’m damn well sure eh it.’ Rukia giggled at that but she still stood by her words, unless Gin decided to leave which he’d be an idiot to do right now considering Rangiku was over the other end of the tub in a bikini and looking lonely. He had to stay. If he were to stay then they had to tell Toshiro and Rangiku because they’d spot it or figure it out eventually and it would just be less embarrassing this way.

‘So,’ Rukia said turning to them, the smirk still plastered on her face, ‘you know how we’ve mentioned before that Renji likes a good prank? The sex toys in the airport, dumping the water over Ichigo?’ she’d told Toshiro about that one on the phone.

‘Rukia…’ Gin practically begged but she continued anyway.

‘It seems Gin is his next victim,’ she pursed her lips for a second to stop herself from laughing more as she sat back down on the seat beside her best friend. ‘He gave me kalms tablets for Gin for the next time he was meant to be hanging out with Rangiku, because he gets so nervous. I don’t know if you have them in Oz but they’re small blue pills and… well… let’s just say they weren’t kalms.’ She smirked devilishly again as Gin groaned softly beside her, clearly utterly mortified and yet despite his mortification there wasn’t a single thing he could do to stop the raging erection he was currently sitting with.

Rangiku gasped as Rukia started giggling again.

‘It was Viagra, Bub,’ Rangiku informed Toshiro who looked completely confused and Rukia smirked as he started speaking again.

‘Oh,’ he said before turning incredibly smug, ‘well that explains why I didn’t know what it wa-’ Toshiro was elbowed sharply by Rangiku and stumbled. ‘Fuck,’ he held his side and slunk away from the taller woman, Rukia watched the exchange curiously wondering why Rangiku had hit him so hard. Was she annoyed that Renji had done it? The woman in question gave a forced chuckle.

‘Fucking Renji, now you will just have to prank him back.’ Rangiku said and Rukia smirked at Gin.

‘I consider it full pay back for leaving me to sing on stage with Toshiro and forcing us together,’ Rukia shrugged fixing Toshiro with a look, even though she was pleased how they had turned those awkward situations into more sex, she didn’t appreciate how it had happened. ‘Karma is a bitch.’

‘Ah hate you,’ Gin glared at her but Rukia simply turned around and picked his drink up, handing it to him.

‘Get that down you and you won’t even care,’ she smirked, ‘besides you can maybe get your own back in the next round.’

Gin did as he was told, he downed his vodka, pulling a face at the end before handing his plastic cup back to Rukia to be filled back up again. Rukia filled his cup as they got ready for another round, Rukia noticed a little disheartened that Gin now seemed to be sitting at the opposite side of the hot tub to Rangiku and made a mental note of that. When Rangiku lost she’d try and force the strawberry blonde to get closer to him, but she’d try and judge the atmosphere before forcing something like that. Gin couldn’t keep running away from the girl of his dreams forever because eventually she’d just assume he wasn’t interested and would move onto other fish in the sea and Gin would live in a state of permanent regret. Rukia refused to let that happen. She glanced over to Toshiro as she handed Gin his drink. Her look stated simply “I will get these two together.”

The jets were turned back on and another round started, but this time Rukia was sat where Gin had previously been and realised her mistake. The jets favoured this side of the tub, and before she could slip out of the way (which would practically involve climbing onto Rangiku’s lap) the ball graced her skin.

‘Finally,’ Gin breathed a smirk appearing over his face and Rukia swallowed, keeping him fixed with a look that said _“give me your best shot!”_

‘Yeh have tae kiss Toshiro for five full minutes,’ Gin said reaching over to where her phone was sat at the side of the tub, he knew her pin so it shouldn’t have been a bother for him to get access but he paused blinking down at the device. Then Rukia remembered a beat too late that she’d forgotten to change her lock screen.

‘Fuck,’ she hissed with an embarrassed giggle as Gin laughed with glee. He was well and truly getting his own back on her now as he lifted the device up.

‘Does wee Tosh know?’ Gin asked her and she could feel her cheeks going red because of course he didn’t. He had no idea he’d become her lock screen…

‘I did it to piss off Byakuya,’ she tried to rectify the situation quickly but Gin wasn’t having any of it.

‘Bullshit,’ he laughed, ‘no with the way yer blushin’ yeh didnea,’ he held the device up so that Rangiku and Toshiro could both see her lock screen and Rukia groaned covering a hand over her face because Gin was right.

When she finally dared to glance at Toshiro he was looking incredibly proud of himself. His smug smile just caused Rukia to scowl, she couldn’t believe her bad luck, she should have been on the ball faster and removed the image quicker but the whole day had been a blur. Toshiro broke into a wicked grin and made his way over to her in excited leaps that had the water sloshing even more around them. She felt him grab her waist, his fingers burning her skin even under the water and pulled her flush against his body. Through the thin fabric of her wet bikini she could feel her hardened nipples scraping against his skin, her abdomen pressed against his own and their hips connected before he fired Gin an instruction.

‘Start timing,’ but without waiting for the response from Gin who hadn’t even put Rukia’s pin in yet Toshiro was bending down to capture her lips, that smug smirk still in place on his face. Rukia was a little lost for the first few seconds, giving Toshiro complete control before her arms slipped out the water and up around his back, nails digging into his flesh. She groaned into the kiss and as soon as their mouths were open, she fought him for dominance, wanting more than anything to remove that stupid smirk from his face. That familiar feeling resurfaced and she practically melted against him, his hands around her waist were the only thing keeping her upright in the water. She was struck once more by just how amazing it was to kiss someone with an air of familiarity, that same teasing smile still on his lips as they broke for air for a second before reconnecting. This time she let her fingers slide up into his hair, fingers tugging at those white locks to try and make him just as turned on as she was.

Rukia could feel his hands wandering, breathing his groans into her mouth. His hands slipped under the water and under the fabric of her thin bikini bottoms. His hands splayed across her ass and he squeezed the flesh pulling her as close as she could. Rukia could feel him becoming hard in those tight trunks and moaned gently into the kiss, no one else existed around them. She could barely even feel the hot water on her skin because she was feeling hot all over, this more dominant side of Toshiro was turning her on more than she ever thought possible. It was a side of him she’d like to see again.

‘Time,’ Gin called sounding smug as Rukia reluctantly pulled away, Toshiro looking just as dazed and flushed as she was and yet still so smug.

‘Far out,’ Toshiro mumbled, his eyes on her lips, his voice low and husky and turned on. His Australian accent coming out so thick with the Aussie slang and Rukia practically growled, pushing herself back up against him, hand up fisting his hair and dragged him down for another round of kissing. This time her tongue danced sultry with his between their mouths and she didn’t care that they weren’t alone. Rukia knew that the kiss was turning dirtier and dirtier and she was encouraging it as much as she could, moaning into his mouth, aware that she had an accent kink. Then something extremely cold slipped between them and with a yelp she leapt away. The cold that broke the tension, had been a massive chunk of ice which Rangiku had slipped between their bodies.

The reaction from Toshiro was not what Rukia expected at all. While Rukia fished the slab of cold out of her cleavage, Toshiro literally looked like he’d just had an orgasm. The moan that tore from his lips set her blood on fire and she swallowed thickly, fixing her eyes on him. He caught himself at the side of the tub looking dazed in a way she was sure she’d only ever seen him post orgasm.

‘Holy fuck,’ Rangiku called, her voice full of shock and clearly thinking the same thing, ‘did you just come?!’

‘No,’ Toshiro groaned and splashed some water onto his face before running a hand through his hair, wetting it slightly and causing the spikes to droop with moisture. Rukia wanted to see what that hair would look like fully wet, the water glistening on his chest, on his abs as he breathed heavy, face flushed was doing things to her. Once again she was struck by just how attracted to him she still was despite the fact that she’d already slept with him twice. Maybe it was because it had been around five days since she’d last had sex. But even that felt like a weak excuse.

‘You got an ice play kink or something?’ Rangiku asked with a laugh and Toshiro didn’t respond… he didn’t even laugh with her and Rukia’s mouth fell open. Ice? Oh… well that could be very interesting. Rangiku seemed taken aback by his lack of response, ‘do you?’ she quizzed again and Rukia could feel both her and Gin leaning in for an answer.

Toshiro straightened up and turned back around to face Rukia, ‘next round?’

Fuck was she letting that go. That was a question she very much wanted an answer to.

‘No way,’ Rukia called even after he turned the jets back on, ‘we need an answer!’ she called as she yelped and leapt out of the way of one of the tiny little balls. Gin seemed to have chosen the better side of the hot tub as not a single ball was making it down his way yet.

The round lasted a lot longer, Rukia had leapt into Gin’s safe area and he laughed and tried to shove her back out but with her came a bundle of balls, her body changing the direction of the jets as she crossed in front of one and sending them off in his direction.

‘Fuck,’ he leapt away, clearly over the embarrassment of his problem now that Toshiro had been embarrassed too. The only person who hadn’t so far was Rangiku, a situation that they’d have to correct as soon as possible. The laughing continued as they all tried desperately to not be the next one caught when a ball whisked toward Toshiro and the snowboarder didn’t get out of the way on time.

‘Tell us your kinks!’ Rangiku shouted, bouncing excitedly and Gin looking pointedly away from where her breasts were bouncing with her, ‘you have to now, you lost!’ Toshiro looked like he wanted a hole to open up and swallow him but Rukia was very interested in learning what these kinks were. With a groan he sunk fully submerged under the water leaving Rukia and Gin laughing until Rangiku, who couldn’t wait for him to run out of breath, pulled him back up. The water did interesting things to his hair, the long spikes slicked back and falling down the side of his face too. He looked good wet, Rukia thought with a smirk.

‘So we already know ice is one, right?’ Rangiku asked as she giggled and helped him by pushing some of the wet hair that had fallen into his eyes out of his face. ‘And I know you’re an ass and thighs man.’ Rukia knew this too, very well. She had marks still covered by the foundation on her thighs to prove it.

‘Fine, ice is one,’ Toshiro seemed to resign himself to his fate with gritted teeth, ‘and… I like my hair getting pulled.’

Noted.

‘And uh… I like to, uh, s-spank a girl’s ass.’ He’d said this last part very quietly that Rukia almost hadn’t heard it.

‘I knew you were a spanker!’ Rangiku laughed saying it loud enough for Rukia and Gin to catch on. She could feel Gin’s eyes on her and she turned to him, he raised a questioning eyebrow and Rukia shook her head. She’d had no idea about that one… though for all the times he’d grabbed her ass why hadn’t he spanked it? She’d been spanked before, she never really cared much for it but somehow she thought it would be different with Toshiro. ‘Yukio owes me fifty bucks now.’ Rangiku was gleeful at this news and Toshiro was clearly highly embarrassed which only seemed to relax Gin further.

‘That’s all my-that’s it,’ he shook his head, ‘they’re all very light and vanilla. I’m not into anything weird.’

‘So he says,’ Rukia smirked at this revelation, happy to have a few more bits of information on Toshiro that night that she could use for the next time they slept together… which they would. She hadn’t taken his condoms for nothing.

‘Whit dae yeh mean?’ Gin asked her and she slid out of the water, sitting up on the edge and was pleased to see that the foundation she’d used on her legs had started to wash off… she wiped more firmly at them.

‘He likes eating women,’ she smirked as Gin laughed hysterically.

‘Yeah but that’s not really a kink, right?’ Toshiro frowned and turned to Rangiku expecting her to answer while Rukia’s mouth fell open. Did he seriously not think that? Like he’d bitten her all up everywhere and didn’t think that was a kink? Really? Did he see loads of other women walking around with marked thighs? Then she remembered he mostly trained in snow on a mountain… but she was sure he’d been to a beach he lived in Australia and was friends with a surfer! 

‘Nah, Bub,’ Rangiku smiled at him, ‘many men don’t want their tongues anywhere near there. It’s a shame really.’ She said it while turning back to Gin and Rukia caught on instantly to what she was doing, Gin fell for the bait but not because Rangiku had thrown him the challenge. Gin was clueless when it came to women’s hints.

‘Ah agree,’ Gin said with a shrug, ‘it’s a shame maist women really enjoy it, at least the yins ah’ve been with have.’ His eyes made their way back to Rukia’s thighs and his eyebrows shot up and he pursed his lips.

‘Yeah but there’s going down on a girl, then there’s trying to eat her thighs Toshiro,’ Rukia said with a smirk, ‘how many other women do you see walking around, their thighs looking like that?’ she indicated with her head but smiled at him as she slipped back under the water.

‘Like yeh did’nae enjoy it,’ Gin said and she could feel her best friends eye roll. Toshiro made his way back to the control panel as Rukia smirked in response to Gin’s comment.

‘Maybe I just have a Rukia kink?’ Toshiro said it just as he set the jets on and Rukia tossed him a look. She wasn’t sure how to take that comment, she seemed to be in two minds, in one part alarm bells were ringing that maybe Toshiro was getting attached to her and in the other mind she thought maybe it was just sex? She wasn’t quite sure which side was causing the weird feelings to fleet through her but he didn’t give her a chance to process them as the balls were flying in her direction. Pushing the thought to the side a smile slipped back onto her face as she shot out the way of a ball but it was a short lived round as Rangiku got caught, finally.

‘Right,’ Toshiro cracked his knuckles looking ready for any kind of revenge, ‘Rangiku you have to kiss someone in this hot tub… but it can’t be me.’ Rukia felt a wave of relief at that last part of the comment, she fixed Gin with a look as if to warn him because she was so sure that Rangiku was going to pick him.

‘Rukia then’ Rangiku decided and Rukia whipped around in surprise. She hadn’t expected that, Toshiro was looking at her with a raised eyebrow as if challenging her, a grin on his face suggesting he was more than okay with this setup.

Fuck yes.

Rukia smirked and turned towards Rangiku, reaching her, Rangiku had to duck down to reach her lips because she was so short in comparison. Kissing Rangiku was completely new. Rukia had only ever kissed a girl once and it was while intoxicated and had been in her late teens. Raniku’s lips were softer than Toshiro’s, she moved her mouth differently and Rukia let her take the lead since this was her dare.

Women’s tongues were a lot smaller, thinner and Rangiku could do wicked things with Rukia’s tongue bar that had never been done before. Rukia could feel her eyebrows rising, kissing her was different, but it did not turn her on as much as Toshiro’s kisses did. In saying that, the guys didn’t know that… with a wicked smirk she wrapped her arms around the slender neck of the other woman and moulded against her. If Toshiro was going to be so smug about this little dare then he was going to regret it. She explored the other girl’s mouth, feeling Rangiku smirk against her lips too as if in silent agreement that she was enjoying winding the two men up just as much as Rukia was. When they finally broke apart Rukia turned to fix Toshiro with a very pointed look.

‘Might be the best damn kiss I’ve ever had.’

'Are you sure about that?' Toshiro asked tilting his head and smirk on his face, 'maybe you want to kiss me again to check?' Oh he was cocky. Rukia smirked, turning to throw Rangiku a wink before she made her way over to Toshiro. She made it look like she was going to slide into his arms but at the last possible moment changed tactic and reached for the button to turn on the jets forcing them all into another round.

Toshiro barely had any time to react to her tease before they were all leaping out of the way of the balls that were shooting at them from every angle. Rukia thought she was doing well until she found herself backed into a corner with Toshiro, the two of them sharing a look that genuinely made her believe for a second that Toshiro was going to sacrifice her. Before either of them could more or blink though Rukia felt one of the balls make contact with her skin and she groaned in defeat.

‘Oh,’ Rangiku clapped her hands drawing their attention and Rukia perked up, she’d not had a forfeit from Rangiku yet, this could be fun, ‘Rukia, how big is Toshiro’s dick really?’ she asked and Rukia blinked in surprise at the request.

‘What!?’ Toshiro hissed at her, ‘you can’t ask her to tell you that?’ Rukia had to admit it did seem a little unfair, it felt more like an embarrassment to him than to her, until the next part of the request was announced.

‘Oh I’m not asking her to tell us anything,’ Rangiku was smirking now, ‘I don’t want her to use words at all.’ Toshiro turned to Rukia as if thinking she would somehow offer him mercy, his giant stunning teal eyes begging at her not to do anything of the sort but Rukia just smirked wider. He wanted mercy? From her? As if.

Rukia brought her hands up out the water and held them in what she assumed was roughly his length. Making faces as she tried to gauge and calculate, remembering how much she could fit into her mouth and what had been in her hand. She then attempted to demonstrate his thickness with her fingers around in a circle remembering him mostly from that first time when she’d held him and noticed the significant gap in her fingers around the base of his thick cock.

‘Jesus fuckin’ Christ,’ Gin gasped and Rukia vibrated with silent laughter.

‘Next round,’ Toshiro called as Rangiku nodded beside Rukia. It was clear the other woman had been expecting it but the news was new to Gin. Rukia was sure she’d mentioned it to him but it was different when you were being presented with it in a more picturesque way. Before they could even chat about it though Toshiro had fired up the jets his face bright red with embarrassment. Rukia leaped out of the way of a stray ball just in time not wanting to be hit for a third time. She was sure the next forfeit would be an embarrassment for her instead of Toshiro if she were unlucky enough to be hit with another ball. Toshiro had been embarrassed enough though and Rukia had to wonder what more could they do to the poor man short of stripping him down.

Alas Toshiro was saved as a stray ball bounded out the water and hit Gin comically in the chest just as Rukia moved toward him. He groaned and fixed Rukia with a begging look. Why did everyone think that a look would make her go easy on them? Then she remembered his issue… and she felt herself purse her lips. Maybe she’d go a little easier on him.

‘Tell us your biggest celebrity crush and why,’ Rukia decided with a smirk and he groaned flopping back down into the seat. Rukia had noticed how he was keeping his lower half submerged through the entire game, likely due to the issue that had… arisen.

‘Ginger spice fae the spice girls,’ Gin growled, glaring at her as if to beg her not to ask anymore.

‘Why?’ Rukia fixed him with a wide beaming smirk and tilted her head. He genuinely looked like he wanted to cause her physical damage.

‘Because she’s got strawberry blonde hair,’ Gin mumbled.

‘So you’re saying you have a thing for gingers?’ Rukia confirmed, taking a drink of her alcohol while there was a lull in the game.

‘Aye,’ he sighed in defeat, ‘ah have.’

‘I know another ginger who is pretty awesome too, do you have a crush on her too-’

‘Next round!’ Gin barked at Toshiro causing Rukia to giggle into her drink.

'Hold on,' Rangiku called, stopping Toshiro who was likely about to start the jets back up again. Rukia was watching with glee at the scene, pleased that Toshiro wasn't doing a thing to help. Gin and Rangiku had caused them so many embarrassing and awkward interactions it was nice to _finally_ get some sweet ass revenge.

'Do you think I look like Ginger Spice?' Rangiku asked after moving into his personal space and causing him to flinch back. He clearly still had his problem under the water and Rangiku's tits in his face weren’t helping... or well... maybe it was. Rukia smirked into her drink, watching as Toshiro poured himself another. They watched the scene in front of them as if it were nothing more than a background sitcom.

'Naw,' Gin mumbled shyly, swallowing and leaning back. He was clearly trying very, _very_ hard to keep his eyes on her face. Rukia didn't even think she'd be able to stop herself from looking at Rangiku's breasts from that position. 'Yer even prettier,’ he said it so quietly and yet without the jets on and no other noise around them, just the still night air, and his voice carried loud enough for Rukia to hear him.

She smirked down into her drink. “ _That's my boy”_ she thought to herself.

Rangiku straightened back up and turned to share a look with Toshiro that Rukia couldn't see. She tried to catch Toshiro's eye but the snowboarder turned the jets back on at his best friends command. Rukia only just put her drink down in time and made it out the way of a stray ball from the pack but the game was stopped very quickly when Rangiku refused to move and a ball caught her immediately. She turned to look at Rukia expectantly and Rukia smirked as she finished her drink. She could feel the buzz of alcohol at the back of her mind and knew it was only a matter of time before she started getting sleepy. The hot water, early rise and competition all had an effect on her weariness. So why not give Rangiku what she wanted and take a chance to draw the game to a close?

'Rangiku,' Rukia said with a smirk, putting her empty drink to the side and refusing to fill a new one up. 'You have to sit in Gin's lap for the rest of our time in the hot tub.' Gin looked like she'd just shot him, he flushed his eyes glancing back to Rangiku.

'But-' he started and Rukia knew he was worried they'd all forgotten about his problem.

'Don't worry Gin, we've not forgotten,' Rukia smirked evilly at him. It was up to Rangiku if she wanted to refuse the request, if it made her too uncomfortable knowing full well the state that Gin was in.

Rukia could practically feel Gin's embarrassment, still, he held his arms out for Rangiku and only emitted a groan once as she adjusted herself in his lap.

'Is this okay?' Rangiku asked and Gin swallowed, his hands wrapping around her protectively and respectfully, one hand midway down her thigh and the other wrapped around her waist.

'Aye,' he said, 'this is fine.'

Toshiro took his drink over to the opposite side, sitting down and glancing at Rukia with a hopeful grin before spreading his arms out for her. She rolled her eyes but the smile on her lips told a different story as she moved over to him and climbed into his lap, feeling his arms tighten around her securely. She buried her nose into his neck and shut her eyes in content. The night air felt cool and pleasant against her face, the heat from the water had caused sweat to form on her face and the breeze was doing wonders for it. The four of them sat in silence for a while, and Rukia could hear the distant sound of people laughing and chatting, cheers in the very far distance signifying the end to an event. She opened her eyes and glanced out across the snowy mountains, the clear skies showing no snowfall over the course of the next couple of hours. It was completely and utterly peaceful. 'I'm really glad we did this,' Rukia mumbled sleepily, her cheek pressed firmly against Toshiro's chest and let out a sigh of content.

Eventually her tired eyes closed over again, completely at ease in his arms, in a way she'd never ever felt with anyone before. Not that she'd ever allowed anyone to hold her like this before. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and pressed a kiss to her head. Rukia focused on his touch, on the steady rhythm of his heart, on the distant noises and found that her world started to sink... ebbing away as she drifted off to sleep.

\---

Rukia began to wake a short time later, her foggy mind taking a moment to catch up and she realised that someone was trying to wake her. She felt a pair of lips press against her forehead, their owner mumbling her name in what sounded like a tender and amused voice.

‘Rukia?’ the voice asked and she huffed and turned her face into the warmth she was lying on.

‘Rukia?’ the voice called again, mostly amusement this time and then a pair of lips on her cheek. She’d smack the fucker for waking her up if she weren’t feeling so helplessly lethargic.

Her brain seemed to slowly kick back into action. She’d fallen asleep in the hot tub. Rukia could feel the water sloshing on her skin as Toshiro tried to adjust their position, likely his back getting stiff from having her curled around him. With a huff she turned back around, the entire left side of her cheek pressed firmly against his chest… she must have slipped down because she was sure that she’d been on his shoulder before. Rukia felt his lips press ever so gently against her own this time. She groaned as she started to come too, her lips slowly pressing back against his. Feeling her respond Toshiro pulled back and Rukia let her eyes flutter open, her entire sight dominated by large teal eyes.

He was smiling down at her, practically glowing, the smile on his face genuine and dimples on show. Those thick black lashes around his eyes fanning across his cheeks and creating interesting shadows in the fairy lights, making his eyes look even bigger.

‘Welcome back,’ Toshiro joked, his voice soft and she groaned again as she tried to move. Rukia could feel his arms wrapped around her securely keeping her held tight to his body, obviously to stop her slipping off his lap and drowning in her sleep.

‘Hullo,’ she mumbled sleepily against his chest closing her eyes again for a moment.

‘No,’ he called softly with a chuckle, ‘you were doing so well before, don’t fall asleep on me again,’ he laughed. The sound of the water sloshing had her opening her eyes again and twisting around in his arms to glance over at where Gin had just gotten out of the water. Rangiku was rubbing her eyes, looking entirely exhausted but clearly a lot more awake than Rukia currently was, which meant it was Gin who had gotten out of the tub.

‘I’m up,’ Rukia huffed trying to stretch herself out and willing her muscles to start working. She could feel the uncomfortable pruning feeling happening in her fingers from being under water for so long and flinched. It was one of those feelings she absolutely hated. Toshiro’s arms seemed to hesitantly unwrap from her making sure she was completely with it before he fully let her go. Rukia slid from his lap watching as Rangiku was dozing again at the other end of the tub.

‘Ah have yer towels,’ Gin said as he placed both Toshiro and Rukia’s towels beside them. Rukia looked up thankful and watched as Gin carried two more down the other end of the hot tub, clearly not caring that it was freezing… then again Gin was weird when it came to the cold as long as he was moving he seemed almost immune. He put his own towel down and held the other bright pink one up. ‘Ran?’ he called softly. The girl turned around and smiled at him as she climbed out of the tub and was immediately engulfed into her towel with Gin giving her a hug at the same time. A bright grin spread over her face and Rukia smiled too, despite the whole Viagra issue they’d done well to bring it around.

Toshiro stirred beside her as he hoisted himself out of the tub, picking up her fluffy white towel and holding it up same as Gin had. Rukia rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, the expression becoming a common occurrence with him as she turned and pulled herself out of the tub. The cool night air was almost a relief for her skin for the first few seconds, and then a draft sliced through her. Toshiro had the thick white towel over her shoulders before she could even shiver. 

She squirmed against him and he stepped away, frowning down at her, as soon as he’d taken a step back though it allowed her to open her arms where she held a corner of each side of her towel and hug him so he was inside the towel with her.

Toshiro grinned into her hair, she couldn’t see his face anymore but she could feel how happy and smug he was and she just huffed against his skin.

‘I just wanted your abs in here with me,’ Rukia mumbled against him causing him to laugh.

‘You keep telling yourself that,’ he said sounding like he was in a very good mood. Before Rukia could properly respond he had reached down and picked her up into his arms, she locked her legs around his waist on instinct and slumped uselessly over his shoulder as he carried her into the changing area.

Gin had let Rangiku use the bathroom area to change in to give her privacy and was changing himself with his back to them as they walked in. Toshiro put Rukia down on the bench and went back out to retrieve his towel. Rukia had stood up and started to undress but Toshiro was directly in front of her in an instant glanced back to Gin behind him.

‘He’s seen me naked before,’ she said with an eye roll but Toshiro didn’t look very comforted by this knowledge, instead he held his towel up in front of her to get changed behind.

‘Really?’ she quirked a brow at him and he just smiled sheepishly at her from over the top of it.

‘Humour me, please,’ he said looking away to give her some more privacy and she just rolled her eyes.

With Toshiro looking away, Rukia undressed, peeling the wet bikini off over her head and letting it fall with a damp thud to the floor. The area was tiled and a drain lay in the corner where they could rinse off the worst of the moisture from their wet clothes. She reached down to undo one of the ties from her pants and stopped, her eyes on Toshiro and another devilish smirk gracing her lips. His attention was drawn outside, like he was admiring the view in the distance, but it left his throat dangerously exposed.

She still hadn’t fully forgiven him for walking away from her that evening after their date.

Now here he was looking so delectable and unsuspecting… his throat bared and she smirked. Rukia stepped forward, unable to help herself really, and pressed her lips to his throat. She could feel the muscles under her lips moving as he swallowed and she let her teeth graze his flesh.

‘What are you…’ he started to ask as she started to suck against the exposed flesh of his neck. He stopped what he’d been saying and seemed to swallow again, tilting his head as she continued her cruel assault on his skin.

‘Rukia,’ Toshiro groaned turning and she reached up to capture his lips. His hands were not able to explore her at all as they continued to hold up the towel to protect her modesty. Rukia slid her hand around his neck and up into his hair, tugging on it since she knew he liked that and felt him moan into her mouth.

‘You two better no be shaggin’,’ Gin said from across the room.

They didn’t say anything, because their lips were busy. Rukia liked the idea of Toshiro not being able to touch her because his hands were busy, it gave her a new sense of power and that turned her on.

‘Are they?’ Rangiku’s voice asked from behind the closed door.

‘Ah ain’t turnin’ around tae find oot,’ Gin replied his voice exasperated as Rukia grinned into their kiss. Toshiro seemed to be smiling too, his lips, taste and movement now so familiar to her and sending sparks up and down her body. She could feel her toes curling on the hard wet surface floor as their tongues met in the middle, the kiss getting deeper and filthier.

‘Give me a second and I’ll come out and see,’ Rangiku said sounding excited. At that announcement though Toshiro pulled back with a groan, his eyes dazed and blown as he gazed down at Rukia. His tongue coming out to lap the moisture off his lips as he eyed hers up before letting his gaze drop lower, greedily taking in her almost naked body.

Now that she had his attention she smirked and pulled at the string of her bikini bottoms letting them fall to the floor and watching his reaction. His jaw clenched and his eyes raked all over her. Feeling incredibly smug she turned around and bent over to pick up her towel, quickly drying her body off with her back to him. When she turned back around he was still watching her, his gaze almost helpless and she noticed that his hands appeared to be shaking a little. She highly doubted it was with the effort of holding the towel up, it was likely because his hands were itching to do something else.

‘Aww,’ Rangiku’s voice sounded from the other side of the small space, ‘they’re not having sex.’

She sounded disappointed and Toshiro turned to look at her causing her to giggle.

‘So it’s safe tae turn around?’ Gin asked and Toshiro took a possessive step toward Rukia as if trying to shield her even more now that she was fully naked.

Resisting another eye roll Rukia started to dress, which seemed to relax the snowboarder who finally put his arms down when she’d pulled her jumper on over her head.

Though Rukia did notice with some satisfaction the half erection he was sporting in his very tight Quiksilver shorts. They really didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination.

‘Do you want me to protect your modesty too?’ Rukia asked with a smirk, it was his turn to roll his eyes, keeping his back to Gin and Rangiku, he peeled his shorts off and had his underwear on so quick Rukia only had a fraction of a second to really admire the view of how that delicious V muscle came so close to his thick dick.

Rukia looked away from Toshiro as he pulled his various layers of uniform on and glanced over to where Rangiku and Gin were. Rangiku looked exhausted, she’d tied her wet hair up and mumbled something sleepily to Gin who nodded and wandered back outside.

Toshiro was finishing putting his yellow beanie on his head, which Rukia eyed with pursed lips, when he turned back to her.

‘What?’ Toshiro asked frowning.

‘Nothing,’ Rukia replied, standing just as Gin wandered back in. His arms full of their cups where he’d stored the ping pong balls and the almost empty bottle of vodka. He handed Rukia her phone back and they all packed their bags and left. There wasn’t a lot of conversation, Rukia was still feeling tired, her muscles moving slower than she was used too and the cold nipping at her wet hair… she now understood the love for beanies as she eyed Toshiro’s head while he gazed off across the street.

‘I think I’ll sleep like the dead tonight,’ Rangiku mumbled tiredly.

‘Yeah the hot water really knocks it out of you doesn’t it,’ Rukia mumbled as Toshiro wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against his side to walk. His warmth was welcomed even if it was slightly awkward to walk under his arm, she appreciated it all the same. Soon the two hotels were looming at them in the distance and as they drew nearer they had to part ways.

Rangiku turned to Gin almost hopefully and Rukia felt herself cringe. Trying to give the two of them a private moment, Toshiro turned to her instead and she gazed up at him.

‘No teasing me this time,’ Toshiro said his eyes full of humour and one of his dimples on show in a cute half smirk.

‘Me? Tease you?’ Rukia scoffed, ‘as if I’d ever do that.’

He laughed as he leaned down to capture her lips and she pressed back gently, the kiss was very innocent and sweet. Not even an exchange of tongues and Toshiro pulled back after a final press of their lips.

‘Sleep well?’ he said and he took a step back. The two of them turned to Gin and Rangiku who seemed to be embraced in a hug, he was mumbling something to her and when he pulled back he looked for a second like he was going to lean down and capture her lips, but then thought better of it and kissed her forehead instead.

Rukia sighed internally but figured it was better than nothing. Rangiku didn’t look too disappointed this time and turned to Toshiro with a big grin as the snowboarder walked over to her. The two friends departed turning with a final wave as Gin and Rukia took their leave as well.

‘What did you say to Rangiku?’ she asked curiously.

‘Ah just apologised again fir the Renji prank an’ ah hope she had a good night regardless,’ he shrugged and Rukia nodded. He kept glancing back over his shoulder to make sure the other two made it into their hotel alright before they entered their own.

‘You have to make a move on her soon, Gin,’ Rukia said firmly, ‘don’t let her be the one that got away, you’ll never ever forgive yourself.’

‘Anno,’ he sighed and ran a hand through his now dry hair, ‘ah will ah promise.’

She nodded and bid him goodnight, slipping into her room with a final click of the door.

\---

**@RukiaFansOfficial**   
_(Image Attached) (Image Attached) #RukiShiro is looking more and more likely every day!_

**@RukiasGr8estFan**   
**_@Toshiupdates_ ** _!! LOOK AT THEM! That little kiss on the cheek though! Do you think he was wishing her goodluck before her contest? (heart eyes) (sparkle heart)_

**@Toshiupdates**   
**_@RukiasGr8estFan_ ** _!! YES!!! Look how much they’re both blushing!!_

**@Skating4Ever  
 _@Toshiupdates @RukiasGr8estFan @RukiaFansOfficial_** _, Hate to be this person (sad face) (sob) (Image attached) this was taken just an hour ago!!_

**@KuchikiCanWalkOnMe**   
**_@IrishLass101_ ** _Told you she gets around! (Link attached)_

**@IrishLass101  
 _@KuchikiCanWalkOnMe_** _Fuck off you prick, that’s @Christophe-gc she’s pictured with, it’s not a date!_

**@Christophe-gc**  
 _@RukiaFansOfficial_ _I can confirm that Rukia and I were not on a date, but that she does blush a lot when Toshiro Shiba’s name is brought up (winky face) (winky kissy face)  
Retweeted by **@RukiaFansOfficial**_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to keep track of what I am writing and how it's going here is my worklog:  
> https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/writing-projects
> 
> And if you want to join our fan fiction writing discord you can find us here:  
> discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> Don't forget to lookup our Bleach Podcast too! 'The Seireitei'


	8. I Just Want to Make You Sweat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As he lowered himself into a squat his gym shorts clung tightly to his back side, the stitching in the centre riding in between his cheeks and presenting a full rounded view of his ass pressed against the material. Images of that perfect ass flooded back to her as she recalled just how toned and beautiful it was without any clothing obscuring her view.   
> Toshiro was focused intently on his own form in the mirror, his lips silently counting through his reps and the muscles in his legs constricting beautifully with each squat. 
> 
> Rukia hadn’t even realised she’d been staring for so long until she felt something wet on her ankle and looked down. She flushed, realising she’d overfilled her water bottle on the machine and the water had run down the edge of her bottle. With a curse she glanced up to make sure Toshiro hadn’t seen it. 
> 
> He had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes from anxious to sweet to downright dirty at a flick of a switch... so... ENJOY :D 
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord go here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)

‘Rukia you keep falling on your triple lutz because you just don’t have the strength to make the height,’ Byakuya’s harsh voice cut like a whip through the chilly rink air and Rukia felt a sense of dread pooling in her stomach. ‘Until you can land it again, you shouldn’t even attempt the quad.’

‘This is ridiculous,’ Rukia hissed under her breath, the sweat was dripping, pouring off her and actually dripping onto the ice. She’d been at it for hours now, something was wrong, her body wasn’t coping the way it used to.

‘Rukia, you’re going to be twenty six this year,’ he sighed, his voice much closer now and as Rukia whipped around she realised he was standing right behind her. When the hell did he even get onto the ice? ‘It’s time to start thinking about the effects the sport is having on your body.’

His voice was full of concern but his eyes seemed to be telling a different story, like he somehow found her suffering humorous and unimportant. Before she could even respond he was skating off, taking a call and she scowled at the back of his head.

She needed to remove herself from the situation before she threw her skate at him. Rukia made her way over to the rink edge and got off the ice, her legs shaking violently as she plopped herself down onto a stair to remove the bindings of her skates.

The jog home was less fun. Gin was away taking part in the Cross European Championships making Rukia feel even more miserable. When she finally stuck the key into the keyhole of her apartment door she prepared herself mentally for the cold empty space, a promise of putting the television on for some company was enough to make her finally unlock the door and step inside.

But her apartment wasn’t cold, in fact it was warm. Rukia hesitated, glancing over at the kitchen where two pots seemed to be boiling on the counter, a couple of chopped vegetables sitting on a chopping board also caught her eye.

Had someone broken into her home to cook her food? Had Gin come back early? He rarely cooked… she blinked at the oven which was on to and from inside she could see the outline of some form of meat. Rukia could already feel her mouth watering. The aroma of food led her further into the living space as she glanced around.

Who on Earth had-

‘Hey, Beautiful,’ a cheery voice said as Toshiro stepped out of her bedroom. Her eyes went wide… what the hell was he doing here?

His grin met his eyes, all smiles and dimples and her heart melted uselessly in her chest as he walked over to her. He was wearing a pair of lose comfortable looking washed out jeans and an apron over a standard black t shirt. The apron had a large boxing kangaroo on it and she had to bite the inside of her lips to stop her laughing at just how much he suited it.

He stepped over to her and pecked her on the cheek and before Rukia could stop herself she’d wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.

It _was_ Toshiro! He felt exactly as she remembered, her head fitting perfectly under his chin and his scent washing over her, comforting and familiar. Rukia swallowed against the lump in her throat as he wrapped his arms around her, propping his chin on her head and humming contently.

‘It wasn’t a bad practice was it?’ Toshiro asked, his voice full of concern.

‘Yeah,’ Rukia mumbled, ‘I’m getting too old to do this sport.’

It hurt to say it out loud. She had more than enough money to retire, athletes who were as successful as her had usually earned more than enough money to get by. But where would her love go? Figure skating and dancing had always brought her such joy she’d never really thought about life without them… or she kept pushing the thoughts out of her mind each time they decided they wanted to invade.

He snorted and kissed the top of her head before stepping away.

‘Please, is that what Byakuya said?’ Toshiro rolled his eyes, a fond smile on his face, ‘you know I’ll support any decision you make but I’ve seen you skate Rukia. You might be in a slump right now but we all get it, I’ve been like that with a couple of jumps,’ he winced and momentarily rubbed his back the shadow of a historic injury ghosting over his face and Rukia reached out for him again. ‘You’ve got as many years as you want left in you. You’re still the world champion.’

‘I don’t,’ she shook her head and Toshiro fixed her with a gaze, his eyes patient and caring. ‘I don’t know if I want to push my body to its limits. I’ve seen what can happen to figure skaters who do. Especially women.’

Toshiro nodded his head in understanding. It was likely they’d already spoken about it before. Female athletes who competed as hard as she did for so long were at risk of a number of injuries but also…

‘She’ll be right,’ Toshiro said his mouth twitching into a handsome smirk and Rukia laughed. She laughed because it was some of the only Australian slang she knew and laughing somehow made her feel lighter than she had all day. She giggled and he beamed at her, nodding to the kitchen. ‘Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes, go get a shower, the hot water has been on all day for you.’

‘I love you,’ she chuckled at him and he smirked at her holding up his hand to show off a gleaming platinum ring around his marriage finger.

‘I know you do, now off you scoot so I can finish.’

_Fuck._

Rukia woke with a start, though she wasn’t quite sure what had caused the abrupt wake from such a pleasant dream. Her breathing was heavy like she’d actually just been working out in the rink and it took a moment before the pale lighting flitting through the parting in her curtains drew her attention. The light was streaming across the girls messy room, before falling on the edge of a vase of flowers. The purple tulips looked odd the in the pale light, it illuminated their edges in a different way than the artificial light did. Rukia studied their edges for a moment while she regulated her breathing and she brought a hand up to wipe her hair from her face.

What the hell had that dream been about? Her fingers slid into her hair line, the feeling of her nails on her scalp beginning to ground her as she contemplated.

Rukia and Toshiro had been married, yet she didn’t remember a ring on her finger at any point of the dream. Was it her brains muddled way of trying to catch her off guard at the very end? Like a dramatic reveal in a Hollywood movie? She blinked and gazed at the ceiling.

That dream had been one of the most pleasant dreams she’d had in a very long time and that thought terrified her.

But going home to an empty apartment seemed to terrify her more. Rukia pushed herself up, glancing over at Soi Fon who was still sound asleep and she leaned over to check her phone. It was early, just after six in the morning and she doubted that Soi Fon would appreciate being disturbed so early. Rukia rolled back over and put her phone on the side table, her eyes flicking back for a moment to the flowers on her desk.

Her chest lurched and she swallowed.

Fuck, this was ridiculous. Rukia had never felt this way before. She knew it was a risk when she kept running back to him… but even she couldn’t deny it anymore, she was developing _feelings_ for Toshiro. 

At that thought she groaned and covered her face with her hands, as if she could shield herself from the feeling inside her. This was absolutely _not_ okay. There were so many reasons as to why this would never work… they lived on opposite sides of the planet, they did completely different sports! Other than the Olympics there would be no other events ever where their sports would cross paths. Gin and Rangiku could work, because most of their events and training would be in the same location, meaning that they could easily see each other at their events.

But Rukia wasn’t ready to give up her sport yet and even if she were that didn’t mean Toshiro felt the same way.

Fuck, fuckity, fuck.

She’d never been in this position before, where she actually had to sit and think about whether or not a guy felt the same way about her. Her hand reached back out for her phone pulling it from the side table and holding it above her face, the screen coming to life instantly.

Before she could stop herself she was jumping on twitter and noticed with a lurch that the “#RukiShiro” was a trending tag along with another one that had less traction but was still recommended to her, “#IreAussie”.

She clicked on the latter and saw a number of posts about herself and Toshiro but also Ichigo and Renji and Gin and Rangiku. Rukia blinked up at her phone, she’d had no idea that this was becoming a thing but now that she thought about it, everyone except Soi Fon on the Irish team was hanging out with the Aussies. Rukia clicked back and checked an article which seemed to be majorly shipping this whole idea, a number of Irish people and Australians had even started a Facebook group and correlating Discord server called “IreAussie Fam” where a lot of them seemed to be making new friends from across the seas while supporting the Irish and Australian athletes together.

Rukia couldn’t stop the grin that broke over her face at that, the fact that their little group of Irish athletes were now the cause of this magical marriage between two distant countries.

She rolled over onto her stomach, still grinning stupidly down at her phone, wanting to join in on the conversation but each time she typed out a tweet she deleted it again. She wanted to boldly ask people how many Australian friends they’d made since this whole journey began but she couldn’t think of a way of wording it without raising more suspicion toward the #RukiShiro ship that seemed to be sailing.

Scrapping the idea to join in the discussion she decided to look for tweets around the “#RukiShiro” ship instead.

Indeed, Christophe had shared it and seemed to be a regular tweeter for the hashtag. Her eyes skimmed a conversation he was having on his twitter account and she groaned at his response, because the entire thread had been retweeted by a big follower of hers called “RukiaFansOfficial”.

**@** **Christophe-gc _  
_**_As you know I am a firm shipper of the #RukiShiro, don’t be fooled by the articles saying **@RukiKuchi** and I were on a date, because we weren’t. (Shrug) (Face palm) _

**@Toshiupdates  
 _@_** **_Christophe-gc_ ** _can you give us an update into why Rukia was blushing with you? My followers WANT TO KNOW!_

****

**@** **Christophe-gc _  
_**_Let’s just say so far that **@Toshhiba** seems to be the only topic capable of making our little **@RukiKuchi** blush (wink) (sparkle heart) (heart eyes) (kiss) #RukiShiro #IreAussie_

****

**@RukiaFansOfficial _  
_**_OMFG YESSSS (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (heart eyes)  
Retweeted from **@**_ **_Christophe-gc_ ** _  
Let’s just say so far that **@Toshhiba** seems to be the only topic capable of making our little **@RukiKuchi** blush (wink) (sparkle heart) (heart eyes) (kiss)_

Rukia felt the colour flooding her cheeks against her will and she groaned. How could Chris betray her like that! She’d thought of him as a kindred spirit, someone who understood her. Her face was feeling hot all over and she pushed it down into the cool side of her pillow in a bid to elevate the blush from her cheeks.

How on Earth did one stop from getting feelings anyway? How did you prevent them?

Another Google search had Rukia blanching at the top result which came from the NHS and seemed to be trying to prevent suicide.

Well now, she wasn’t feeling suicidal about it? She shook her head and scrolled down, most of the other discussions seemed to be speaking about how to get over feelings for someone when that person didn’t return them… but she had no idea how Toshiro felt about her.

Well that wasn’t true,’ she paused, her thumb hovering above her phone screen where she’d just been scrolling and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Toshiro was very clearly physically attracted to her but there was a lot more there than just that, she was sure of it. Toshiro was acting like Gin did when he liked someone, except maybe a little less shy. But Rukia didn’t know him… not really… so how could she be sure that the feelings were returned.

She glanced around the room, the light from outside steadily intensifying as the sun moved in line with their window.

‘I can practically hear you thinking,’ a sleepy voice called from the corner and Rukia turned around to see Soi Fon sleepily watching her with one eye open.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,’ Rukia whispered.

‘You didn’t,’ she shook her head, ‘your loud ass thoughts did though.’

Rukia rolled her eyes and huffed causing the other Irish girl to chuckle, the sound of rustling told Rukia that Soi Fon had reached for her phone.

‘Fuck me it’s early,’ she groaned and then more shuffling before the girl was walking towards the bathroom, before she closed the door over though she paused and frowned, ‘aren’t you training today?’

Rukia shook her head, ‘no, we have a gap day and besides the pairs and ice dancers are doing their free skate today.’

‘Oh right,’ Soi Fon nodded but still didn’t shut the bathroom door, her pajamas were hanging off her loosely and she seemed to contemplate her next question. ‘Should I not bother coming by the room tonight?’

It was a question of whether Rukia would be bringing someone back to the hotel later on that day or not. Her reputation was known by now and even her Irish colleagues knew her routine. Before a big performance Rukia always, always had to have a blow off which involved sex.

‘Probably not,’ Rukia smiled sheepishly at her and Soi Fon laughed closing the door to the bathroom finally, leaving Rukia alone again with her thoughts.

There was only one person she wanted to see, only one person she wanted to have sex with but right now she didn’t think it was a good idea. She knew she was getting feelings for Toshiro so surely to keep meeting up with him would only complicate matters further? She groaned and put a hand over her face, she needed Gin, but at the same time she didn’t really want to speak to him about this. It felt so personal, too personal, like instead of her body being bare it was like her soul was.

She checked the time of the pair skaters contest, vowing to watch it on TV then set an alarm on her phone before trying to go back to sleep.

It was far too early to be awake right now and that thought was a safe enough topic to focus on.

When Rukia did finally haul herself out of bed to watch the skating, it was well after nine in the morning and she felt lethargic from forcing her body back into bed. Soi Fon had disappeared off to get breakfast but Gin had already text that he was on his way with food so Rukia decided to have a lazy morning and not move as she found the right channel for the pairs event.

The loud boisterous knocks on the door signalled the arrival of her best friend and Rukia opened the door and greeted him with a hug, hauling him inside at the smell of food.

Gin perched himself on the bottom of Soi Fons bed, while Rukia sat on the floor with her back against her own bed. The little take-away boxes perched precariously on their legs, wafting the smell of food into the air. For the first few moments they ate in companionable silence.

‘Dae yeh think tha’ they’ll dae their jump?’ Gin asked as he closed his box over and put it down on the ground when he was finished. Rukia thought about it, Yuzu had managed to land it well in practice but of course just landing a jump once wasn’t enough. You really wanted to be landing it consistently before you took it to a big competition and the Olympics was the biggest competition there was.

‘If they’re smart, and I know she is, they won’t do it,’ Rukia shook her head, ‘I don’t think their coach will let them anyway even if they wanted too. They’re best to refine it and surprise everyone with it at worlds or later this year at the Grand Prix.’

Gin rubbed at his chin thoughtfully, the little bit of pale stubble scratching on his hand as he did so. Rukia turned to look at him and he glanced away.

‘What’s on your mind?’ she sighed and Gin looked back at her and pursed his lips.

‘Ah lot,’ he said, ‘but ah dinnae want tae keep pesterin’ yeh aboot it when ah ken yer no ready tae talk aboot it yet,’ he said and she sighed.

‘About Toshiro?’ Rukia asked quirking a brow and her best friend nodded, ‘fine we can talk about him but only if that means we get to talk about Rangiku too.’

‘What dae yeh wanna know?’ he asked.

‘Why didn’t you kiss her last night?’ the question was out of her lips before she could stop it and Gin sighed.

‘Okay, ah will answer tha’ question but you have tae answer some eh mine too, deal?’

‘Deal,’ Rukia grinned and he nodded.

‘Ah didnae kiss her, because it didnae feel right. Ah didnae want mah first kiss with her tae be when ah had ah fake hard oan.’ He grimaced and Rukia bit her lip to stop a guilty giggle from slipping out.

‘Sorry again about that,’ she said and he just shook his head.

‘But ah dae want tae and ah hink she knows tha’,’ Gin said.

‘Are you sure? I mean… how do you know when someone likes you?’ Rukia couldn’t stop herself from asking, she gazed up at him curiously with what she hoped was an innocent looking expression. He didn’t fall for it, he studied her for a few moments, quirking a brow before indulging her anyway.

‘Ah think it’s the little acts of affection,’ Gin explained, ‘yeh might find tha’ someone isn’t very affectionate by nature. Maybe they dinnae like to snuggle much, but in fact they’ll be there fir yeh the moment yeh need them. Rangiku seems to be a bit hesitant when it comes tae physical affection, maybe she just doesnae like me or maybe she doesnae wanna scare meh aff.’

‘She likes you,’ Rukia said firmly and watched as the corner of his mouth ticked up.

‘Ah think I’m wearin’ her doon,’ he chuckled, ‘the point is, tha’ maybe she’s no said it in words, but she answers every call, every text, she’s always smiling and hugging me when she greets meh and she came tae mah heats, which was a big deal.’

Rukia was thoughtful for a while as she digested the information and the two of them turned their attention to the television as Yuzu went out to skate.

They both shouted at the exact same time when they spotted the Shiba’s in the crowd cheering the pair on as the two of them settled into their starting position in the centre of the ice. The music started and Rukia was deadly silent, focusing entirely on their performance. She’d seen a few of the pairs in competition now and she knew that the duo were going for tricks they could nail safely instead of tricks for higher points that were risky… like the triple lutz.

For the most part they completed their Olympic run in an admirable standing, the finished in eight place and they seemed thrilled at how well they’d done.

‘They done very well for their first Olympics,’ Rukia beamed at the television before grabbing her phone and sending out a quick shout-out tweet.

‘Did yeh just…?’ Gin picked his phone up then raised an eyebrow up at her, ‘yeh dae realise tha’s gonnae fan the fire eh the #RukiShiro ship even further now?’

‘Yeah well,’ Rukia could feel her cheeks flushing as she locked her phone again and tossed it back onto her bed with a huff.

‘Are yeh gonnae admit it yet?’

‘Admit what?’

‘Tha’ yeh like him? Or are we still pretending we’re in the denial stage?’ Gin’s voice was thick with amusement and Rukia groaned and covered her reddening face with her hands.

‘Fine,’ she mumbled behind her hands, ‘maybe I do like him a little more than I thought.’

Gin didn’t respond and after a few moments Rukia took her hands away from her face to glance over at her best friend who was simply staring at her with his mouth slightly parted.

‘What?’

‘Nothin, ah just didnae think ah’d ever see the day tha’ mah wee lass grew up,’ he pretended to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye and Rukia threw a pillow at him. He laughed and grabbed the pillow using it to prop under himself as he changed position to lie flat on his stomach. ‘So when are yeh gonnae tell him?’

‘I don’t even know if he likes me.’

‘Please,’ Gin scoffed and laughed, ‘he’s one confession awa’ fae askin’ yeh tae marry him. Ah’ve seen the way he looks at yeh and he practically admitted it tae meh last night.’

‘What?’ Rukia tried to cast her mind back, ‘when?’

‘When you an’ Rangiku fell asleep, we had some guy chat.’

‘Oh my god,’ Rukia turned to him her mouth wide open, ‘what did you say?’

‘Dinnae worry, ah didnae tell him anythin’ embarrassin, we just spoke about you two,’ he made a hand gesture to mean Rukia and Rangiku.

‘What did you speak about?’ she pressed, her heart fluttering in her chest.

‘Nuh uh,’ he said shaking a finger at her, ‘it’s guy talk. Stop avoidin’ mah question anyway, when are yeh gonnae tell him yeh have the feels?’

‘I’m not, now would you shut up with this guy stuff and tell me what you spoke about?’

‘Ah’m no sayin’ anythin’ unless yeh tell him yeh hae feelin’s fir him. Poor lad has got the feels bad and yeh have a habit eh playin’ with guys’ hearts.’ He rolled his eyes unsympathetically and Rukia glared at him.

‘Look, I’ll speak to him but after my free skate, goodness knows I have enough on my mind right now.' She groaned, dropping the topic because it just seemed to be stressing her heart out. She’d press him for more details later and pray to god he’d not told Toshiro how secretly cuddly she was when she was sad or sick.

‘Tha’ seems fair,’ he grimaced, ‘how are yeh feelin’ aboot the morra anyway?’

‘Not good,’ she sighed and ran a hand through her hair, tugging at the roots a little to try and ground herself again. ‘I need a distraction.’

‘Ah bet Toshiro would be more than willin’,’ Gin said it in a teasing manner but the idea had been at the back of her mind all morning. She glanced up at the TV where the pair skating was coming to an end and had to wonder what exactly the snowboarder was doing after it. Would he be training, in the gym (that was a sexy thought!) would he be hanging with his family and celebrating Yuzu’s performance? Rukia wasn’t sure… she could always text him but it felt weird.

She felt strange.

Like the admittance of feelings out loud was now forcing her body to put some kind of barrier up. She tugged at the sleeves of her Irish training jumper and continued to watch the TV for a while. Was it indulgent? They wouldn’t work, they couldn’t work, they lived on total opposite sides of the planet doing completely unrelated sports.

‘Ah can practically hear yeh thinking,’ Gin said.

‘You’re the second person to tell me that today,’ Rukia scowled.

‘Yer thoughts are well loud,’ he chuckled at her, ‘are yeh worried aboot how yeh’ll work long distance if something does happen?’

‘How the fuck can you read my mind,’ Rukia glared at him and Gin smiled sheepishly down at him, the light from the lamp behind him catching his pale lavender hair and blue eyes.

‘Yer no as closed aff as yeh seem tae think,’ he said and shrugged, ‘ah was thinkin’ aboot it tae, ah’m sure it’s been on everyone’s minds including the fans. But if yeh two really dae click and really dae like each other, ye’ll make it work long enough until one eh yeh retires an yeh can live closer together ah’m sure.’

Rukia wasn’t so sure. It just seemed like such a daunting thought. The thought of facing the cold and empty apartment alone now that she’d had a dream that made the place seem less like home.

Rukia buried her face in her hands, she needed fresh air. She needed to get out.

‘Rangiku is heading up to the pipe,’ Gin said and Rukia turned to see him on his phone.

‘She text you?’ she asked.

‘Nah it’s oan her Insta-stories,’ he held his phone up and Rukia watched the replay of the scene which was just the scenery of the mountains and a brief glimpse of the back of Toshiro and Isshin’s heads as they walked toward the chair lift in the direction of the half pipe.

‘Can you show me where the half pipe is?’ Rukia asked. She wouldn’t dare interrupt their practice, but maybe she could just watch. It would provide her with distraction enough and then she could always try and head to the gym after. 

‘Sure,’ Gin smirked knowingly at her, ‘but ah cannae stay an’ watch with yeh ah have tae get tae mah ain training.’

Rukia stood up, moving around her room to pack a gym bag for the day and get dressed. Gin led her down to the lobby, once she was ready, and out into the frozen air. Before they headed off in the direction of the slopes they walked past the gym and Rukia dumped her stuff inside one of the lockers for later, forcing herself to make a commitment to actually get her ass to the gym at least. Then they went off toward the mountains. Gin pointed out a large stand of seats that overlooked the pipe and promised her the pipe was on the other side, then he split from her and went off in search of Urahara and Soi Fon while Rukia trudged off in the direction of the pipe.

She would just sit and watch for a while, she’d seen both him and Rangiku go at it on TV but she wanted to see them in person too. As Rukia got closer she spotted a figure shooting out of the pipe before disappearing back into it again and she grinned. Her calves were working hard against the thick snow in her Irish boots and it was a climb she wasn’t used to making so she was pleased when she could finally drop inconspicuously into one of the seats of the stands. It had indeed been Toshiro who had been shooting out the pipe but he was now back at the top of it chatting to his dad while Rangiku fiddled with her snowboard.

There was no one else around and soon Toshiro was setting off down into the pipe and Rukia grinned leaning forward. He shot out of the pipe, getting some height and her jaw dropped. Seeing it in person was even more terrifying, the television screens did not do it justice as to how fast or how high he was actually coming out the pipe. Easily reaching almost twenty feet above the ground, he was executing a number of complicated turns and grabs before landing back in the pipe. When it got to the lower part of the pipe and closer to where Rukia was sitting she watched as he took off into the air doing a trick that looked far too complex. He’d been going into it backward and seemed to be trying to land it backwards too, but his centre of gravity was off and he ended up on his ass sliding down the pipe while Rukia winced.

It was now very easy to see where he’d gotten that massive bruise from the night before. Still, he stood up, seemed to shake it off though his hand did come to massage his ass a little causing a dirty thought to prickle at the back of Rukia’s brain before she shoved it back. Toshiro took off trudging back up to where his father stood and the two started to speak again. This time Rangiku was up and ready though and with a few words she was whizzing down the pipe.

As always, she was flawless, completing her run with a flourish that had Rukia longing to clap and cheer. She’d hoped that she’d been inconspicuous enough but of course the blinding green of her uniform caught Rangiku’s attention instantly. The tall strawberry blonde stood and waved Rukia down calling out to her and Rukia felt her stomach lurch.

She hadn’t really meant to be spotted, she’d just wanted something to distract her from the looming task of tomorrows free skate. Still she couldn’t ignore the Aussie woman and rose before making her way down to see her.

Rukia left the stands and Rangiku had unclipped her board dashing over as quickly as she could in the thick snow and engulfed Rukia into a massive hug.

‘It’s so good to see you,’ she giggled above her, ‘what are you doing here?’

‘Oh,’ Rukia stepped away and fixed her jacket, heat creeping up her cheeks as she glanced up the pipe to where Toshiro was with his father, ‘you know.’

Rangiku followed her line of sight and as Rukia turned back to her, she noticed the girl’s massive knowing smirk on her face.

‘Yeah I do,’ Rangiku said it in a very suggestive tone that had Rukia flushing again causing the taller woman to laugh. ‘You’re so fucking cute.’

Rukia was tugging nervously at her sleeves, she really hadn’t meant to interrupt the practice, she just wanted to see him. Her eyes flickered back up the pipe to where Toshiro was standing conversing with his father and thought about maybe ducking away and not being any more of a burden than she’d already been.

‘I think he’s going to try it again,’ Rangiku said pulling her snowboard up and sweeping some of the snow off it.

‘Try what?’

‘His switch backside 1260,’ she said it and then elaborated based on the rather confused look on Rukia face. Apparently it was an insane trick no one had landed yet because of the blind entry and the blind landing, from what Rangiku said, Rukia had witnessed his second failed attempt, the first had been worse.

She watched nervously back up the pipe where Toshiro was getting himself ready. He went down into the pipe, his speed picking up within seconds from the sloping sides and he went up the other side of the pipe pulling off an easier looking trick clearly just trying to get his momentum. He landed back into the pipe up the other side, again another easy looking trick but as he came down he landed facing the other way, his speed much faster now and Rukia held her breath for him as he shot out the other side of the pipe, twisting his body and seemed to get quite a number of rotations in before he landed. He kept low to the board on his landing and Rangiku cheered beside her.

‘He stomped it!’ Rangiku clapped and Rukia joined in the two women cheering as Toshiro came to halt looking back up the pipe like he couldn’t believe it. Rukia smiled sheepishly to herself, it seemed she was just as much a good luck charm for his jumps as he was for hers.

Rukia was very impressed and Toshiro turned to her with a chuckle.

‘Did you see me?’ he asked, stepping off his board as Rangiku flashed him a look before making her way back up the pipe.

‘Yeah I did,’ Rukia smirked at him, ‘I also saw you fall on your ass.’

Toshiro pouted at her, it was the only bit of his face she could see before he pulled his massive goggles off over the top of his head along with his helmet. His eyes were alight and they reminded her so vividly of the look he’d had on his face when she saw him after their sky dive.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked when he finally stepped up beside her and just like he had the morning of her short programme he placed a hand on her lower back and ducked down to kiss her cheek. He made it look so effortless like they’d done it a million times before and she could already feel the heat in her cheeks as he pulled back.

Rukia hesitated, not wanting to tell him the truth just yet.

‘I was getting a bit stir crazy back at the village,’ she told him, ‘thought I’d come get some fresh air.’

Toshiro seemed to contemplate her answer for a moment and her eyes drifted back to where Rangiku was now chatting with Isshin.

‘I’m sorry for interrupting your training,’ she added quickly, ‘I was just going to watch.’

‘You’re not interrupting, I’m glad you’re here.’ He smiled softly at her and then seemed to consider her for a moment before continuing, ‘Dad is going to work with Rangiku for a bit now, do you want to go for a walk?’

‘Are-are you sure?’ Rukia asked shifting uneasily. She hadn’t at all intended to steal him away from his training but now that he was here in front of her, looking like the perfect marriage between adorable and sexy it was hard not to want to spend some more time with him. ‘I don’t want to take you away from your private time.’

He shook his head, ‘you’re not, the jump you seen me doing was one that isn’t going into my Olympic run,’ he explained, ‘it’s still got a long way to go and it isn’t ready for a competition yet. Besides Rangiku had some issues with the clip on her board so I already got a lot of one on one time, it’s her turn now, so I’ve got the time.’

Rukia nodded slowly at his offer and Toshiro reached out taking her mitten in his and led her off away from the pipe and in the direction of somewhere more private, with his snowboard in tow. She smiled sheepishly to herself, glad he now couldn’t see her face because he was walking a little bit ahead of her to lead her away. Her eyes were trained in on their gloved hands and she felt a flutter in her chest.

She’d already thought it a million times before, but how could someone be so painfully attractive and so completely adorable all at the same time? The deep teal hues of his Australian uniform hung on his body loosely not giving an ounce of recognition to the incredibly toned figure that lay under the layers. Rukia let her eyes travel up and back down him and had to wonder again how someone as kind and caring and also as attractive as him could still be single?

‘How are you feeling about tomorrow?’ he asked as they started to fall more in line, walking side by side.

Rukia made a noise at the back of her throat, because honestly, it wasn’t at all a topic she wanted to talk about. She wanted a distraction more than anything, it’s what she was craving. They walked together for a while longer and Rukia was pleased that he seemed to have let the topic of her looming free skate go, but when she turned to look at him he was grinning stupidly at something. His face all dimples and pearly white teeth that stood out stark against his uniform but blended with his hair.

‘What are you grinning at?’ she shoved him playfully trying to get that stupidly attractive look off his face as they walked.

‘Nothing, Beautiful,’ he chuckled and his smile stretched wider. Rukia huffed at him, heat rising in her cheeks at his dorky adorableness and felt her shoulders slump, not even being aware she’d had them tensed to begin with. Something about him, his genuine chat just seemed to relax her and Rukia had to wonder if it had something to do with the dream she’d had that morning? Being with him just felt right.

Toshiro eventually came to a stop behind the stands. There was no one else around except a course to their right that had a giant separation in place while skiers and snowboarders went down the mountain. She wasn’t sure what was here for them when Toshiro suddenly dropped his board to the snow in front of her and placed his foot on it to stop it moving.

‘Get on,’ he said nodding his head down and Rukia’s eyes went wide with shock. She stared at the board. She’d wanted a distraction but this hadn’t exactly been what she’d had in mind?

‘Come on, wild girl,’ Toshiro smirked, leaned over and jabbed her in her ticklish side causing her to yelp and leap away from him. Fuck, that had been another thing she’d not been expecting… when someone got to know you intimately… they could use that knowledge against you. She glared at the finger that had prodded her while he continued, ‘I won’t let you get hurt.’

‘Not what I’m worried about,’ she grimaced.

‘What, are you worried that the Queen of the Ice will be _bad_ at something?’ he teased her, ‘are you worried about being embarrassed?’

Rukia scoffed at him, honestly, who did he think he was? 

‘Please,’ she flicked her hair over her shoulder in sarcasm, ‘I’m actually worried I’ll show _you_ up and you’ll be the embarrassed one.’

He laughed adorably at her.

‘I think I’ll take that risk,’ Toshiro smirked holding his hand out for her. She eyed it warily for a moment then took his hand and stepped onto the board.

‘Sit, it will be easier,’ he instructed and Rukia did, sitting down as gracefully as she could in the snow and letting Toshiro slot her feet in place and tighten the straps. He seemed to be tightening them quite a bit before she started to feel the resistance against her feet and he stopped.

‘When you stand, lean back on your heels, that way you won’t go anywhere.’ He told her and she nodded. He helped pull her to her feet, her board horizontal and not pointing sideways down the slope, she leaned back and planted her heels firmly into the snow and that seemed to stop any possible movement. Toshiro stood in front of her and held her hips to stop her moving by accident and Rukia grinned. Toshiro smiled and leaned forward, she closed her eyes instinctively and felt a fleeting press of his lips against hers before he was pulling away again.

‘This slope isn’t too steep, but it’s steeper than most beginner slopes, so we’ll have to take it slow.’ Toshiro moved away from her, letting go of her hips but grabbing her hand and she tried her best to remain upright. Rukia had preferred it when his hands were on her hips because he was closer, but she was perfectly able to balance without him, even if it was with a large hunk of wood strapped to her feet.

Toshiro went through the basics of how to go forward and how to break and Rukia tried to listen, before nodding and moving her weight forward onto her toes as he’d instructed to move the board forward. It moved instantly, bending to her will and she hadn’t expected it to be so compliant so was caught off guard. With an embarrassed yelp she clung tightly onto his arm but the movement only served to skew her off coarse directly in front of him.

‘Lean back,’ Toshiro said, his voice sounding highly amused and Rukia did as she was told, halting immediately. He chuckled and she huffed at him, not quite wanting to address the helpless yelp that had slipped from her lips. Rukia felt better now that the break seemed to work as he’d instructed it would so she leaned forward again. This time the movement didn’t come as a surprise and she was better prepared for it, going much quicker than she’d like. Toshiro walked alongside her just fine and continued giving her instructions.

‘The closer your toes are to the snow, the faster you will go, but at this angel you can’t go very fast anyway because you’re going down horizontal to a vertical slope.’

Toshiro instructed something else about leaning too far forward and falling face down but she’d momentarily been distracted by putting a little extra pressure on her toes to test how it felt. Despite the fact she’d already been going fairly fast, she started to get a feel for the varying speeds and found her confidence growing quickly. This wasn’t so bad.

She had no idea what they were all griping on about, snowboarding was significantly easier than learning to ice skate. For the next few minutes, Rukia continued to go forward and stop and Toshiro even instructed her how to slightly adjust her angle so she could a little more from side to side.

‘When can I go straight?’ Rukia asked travelling much quicker than she had been and getting faster and faster with each try.

‘When you’ve got a good handle on stopping,’ he chuckled back at her and Rukia instantly leaned back on her heels stopping herself, flashing him a grin before going again.

‘I am nailing this,’ she was so proud of herself.

‘Yes, you’re really zooming down,’ Toshiro teased still walking beside her, ‘I’m really struggling to keep up with you.’

‘Shut up,’ Rukia laughed, his teasing caused her to flush but he couldn’t exactly see her face so he didn’t get the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten a genuine reaction from her, ‘I would go a lot faster if you would let me go straight.’

And by straight she meant sideways… on the board… which was straight. That was the only thing confusing about snowboarding so far, everything else was straightforward.

‘Going straight down will be much faster I won’t be able to run along beside you,’ he explained, ‘remember to turn back to this position and dig your heels in when you want to stop.’

‘Got it,’ Rukia nodded feeling really excited all of a sudden.

‘Alright good, now we need to work out your stance. Instinctively, do you want to ride with your left foot forward or your right?’

Rukia thought about that for a moment, though about when she glided around her apartment in her socks and shifted herself trying to remember.

‘Left foot forward, I think,’ she said concentrating.

‘That’s regular stance,’ Toshiro nodded, ‘that’s how I normally ride, and most right sided dominant people.’

He helped her twist around so that she was finally vertical to the slope with her left foot forward. He held onto her hips again and helped show her how to twist her body to get back to the horizontal stance she’d been in before so she could stop.

‘If I’d known there was going to be this amount of inappropriate touching,’ Rukia smirked at him, covering his hands with hers where they were still on her hips, ‘I’d have learned to snowboard with you last week.’ She flashed him a smirk and Toshiro just rolled his eyes, his cheeks flushing beautifully and she felt giddy inside. She was pleased that she could make him blush just as much as he made her blush.

Otherwise ignoring her comment he proceeded to pick his helmet up and place it on her head clipping it into place.

‘Hey, I don’t think I need it,’ she frowned up at him but he continued to ignore her, focusing on adjusting it so it sat on top of her head perfectly and tightening the strap that came under her chin. Though it did kind of make her feel safe, knowing that his kit was on her protecting her, she decided not to bother mentioning that.

‘Alright, Beautiful,’ Toshiro drew in purposefully close this time, his hands moving to wrap around her waist and she smiled like a love stuck teenager, wrapping her hands around his. ‘You think you’re ready to give it a go?’

‘Sure am, Handsome,’ Rukia had said it with a bite of sarcasm back to his comment but found she liked the nickname for him. Toshiro really was stupidly attractive and the fact she couldn’t wipe her grin off her face was evidence of that fact.

He placed a kiss on her neck, just under her choker which she’d thrown on that morning to cover the last of his bite. She shivered at the feeling, it felt like a promise, a promise for later and god she hoped it was.

Toshiro let her go and Rukia began to slide down the slope, picking up speed and she cheered, keeping her balance enough to throw her hands up in the air like one might do on a roller coaster.

‘Remember how to brake!’ he called trying his best to keep up with her but she was now going far too quickly. She hadn’t been prepared at all for just how fast the snowboard would pick up speed on what seemed like a barely steep slope and with a squeal, she flailed her arms, remembering only just last moment how to break and attempted to slide her body into position to plant her heels. She lost her balance in the process though and fell face first down into the snow.

It was horrifically embarrassing but so funny Rukia couldn’t stop laughing. The snow had hit her face like an ice cold slap and if she hadn’t been awake before she most certainly was now. She could hear the frantic crunch of Toshiro’s hurried footsteps down towards her when she finally lifted herself up onto her elbows still laughing hysterically.

Toshiro joined in the moment he caught up and dropped smoothly down to her side.

‘Oh my god, I’m a champion in the making,’ Rukia laughed.

‘Of course,’ Toshiro’s laugh tapered off to a chuckle and he reached out and removed the helmet before wiping the snow from her face. ‘I’ve never seen such snowboarding talent.’

‘I’m about as good as you in skates,’ Rukia reached over awkwardly and shoved him while trying to keep herself balanced with one elbow.

Despite the fact the snow had been soft, the landing had still carried a bit of a bump to it and she remembered vividly Toshiro going down on his ass in the half pipe.

‘I can’t imagine how much it would hurt to fall in the half pipe.’ Rukia watched as Toshiro grimaced in response.

‘It’s not fun.’

He brushed the last of the snow from her hair, his mitten dangling around his wrist and tucked the strands behind her ear. He was so close, the snow reflected in his large teal eyes making them appear bigger and brighter. Toshiro continued to tuck her lose strands of hair behind her ear. Before she could stop herself her eyes were flickering down to his lips, aware of how close they were and he didn’t need to be told before he was leaning in and closing the gap between them. His cold lips met hers and she felt herself warm from within, his hand now cupped her face and he deepened the kiss, their mouths opening and closing before their tongues met. He pulled her closer, lying onto his back and pulling her across his stomach without breaking the kiss. She’d never noticed how strong he was before and melted against him as they continued to make out in the snow.

They broke apart to catch their breath but neither of them moved very far, simply tilting their heads the other way before locking lips again. Despite the kiss heating her up her body shuddered against the cold and she wished she’d been smart enough to wear extra layers… even just a scarf probably would have helped. The shiver was the mood killer and Toshiro pulled away from her gesturing up the slope.

‘We should head back up,’ he murmured and Rukia wanted so badly to argue with him, but she knew she’d interrupted his practice and he’d already spent more time with her than he could afford.

‘Sure, but um, how do I get back up?’ Rukia frowned at him and Toshiro chuckled. It felt awkward and unnatural to be face down in his arms with a massive hunk of wood strapped to her feet. Toshiro demonstrated his strength again, lifting her off him despite the awkward angle and reached down to unclip her feet. As soon as her feet were free she rolled over and sat up.

‘Now we have to walk all the way back up there?’ Rukia frowned back up the slope to where they’d originally come and though it wasn’t very far away she would rather stay down in the snow huddling against him for warmth.

‘Come on,’ Toshiro grinned not having any of it, he reached down and helped her to her feet, ‘if you carry the board and helmet, I’ll give you a piggy back up.’

Rukia blinked in surprise, it hadn’t been the intimacy she was looking for but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t at all excited by the thought of him holding her again. He flashed a cheeky grin before turning his back on her and she quickly put the helmet on her head and took his board. It was awkward but she held the board out away from her and hoped onto his back and he caught her legs and lifted her up into a more comfortable position. Rukia locked one arm around his chest keeping her body pressed against him and the other held tightly onto his snowboard.

Rukia was immediately impressed as he started to carry her and all the equipment back up the slope, the snow couldn’t have been easy to walk in and she was sure he would be feeling the strain very soon if he wasn’t already. Still Toshiro made no noise of protest and so Rukia settled against him for the ride, loving the fact that he was holding her so close.

It was interesting, now that she had stopped trying to fight against her instinct of wanting to be close to him and just embraced it, how much happier she felt.

‘Wow Rukia, that was impressive,’ a familiar voice said and Rukia, who’d had her eyes closed enjoying being cuddled up against Toshiro’s back, started at Rangiku who was stood directly in front of them. Toshiro lowered Rukia down and she regretfully got off his back.

‘Excuse me, did you see how fast I was going?’ Rukia sassed the taller woman, ‘I was faster than light.’

‘Oh yeah, you’d give Gin a run for his money, for sure,’ Rangiku giggled and Rukia tried not to be too pleased with the reference to her best friend. A reference pulled that quickly from the air meant that Gin was on Rangiku’s mind a lot. The tall strawberry blonde held up her phone where a video was playing showing Rukia falling and of course the kiss that followed, ‘I got it all on camera.’

‘Don’t post that online,’ Toshiro said instantly giving her a scolding look. Rukia had to wonder if he’d said it for her benefit or if he just didn’t want footage of the two of them online. She felt his words cut her before she swallowed the feeling down. Rukia didn’t need to over think that one.

‘I won’t,’ Rangiku said taking offence to his words, ‘I only sent it to Gin… and Yukio, Yuzu too obviously, and my parents.’

‘What?’ Toshiro and Rukia had asked it at the exact same time.

Had Rukia heard her right? She’d sent it to her parents?

‘Oh yes, Mum and Dad are big fans of your ship apparently,’ Rangiku shrugged causally, ‘so is Yachiru so I sent it to her too. Well, I accidently sent it in our Whistler Gang group chat with the New Zealand boys so now they all have it.’

Rukia didn’t know some of the people she’d mentioned and she had no idea how many people were part of that group chat but it was enough for Toshiro to scold her again.

‘Rangiku!’ Toshiro hissed at her.

‘Yeah sorry about that,’ Rangiku glanced at him, she didn’t look sorry, ‘but that’s everyone I sent it to, I swear. Well, Gillian from school too, do you remember her?’

‘Why her?’ Toshiro asked seemingly surprised at the name mention. Rukia glanced at him, she wasn’t sure how he was feeling about all this and she dreaded to think he was annoyed with Rangiku because he was worried the video would end up online. Then again could she blame him? Rukia had built herself such an ugly reputation and though she had thick skin enough to ignore the majority of what was said about her online, if she’d been Toshiro she wouldn’t really want to drag that on herself too. A flash of guilt sliced her and she flinched at the thought, remembering this was his first proper Olympics and he probably didn’t need the shitty pressure that came with being associated with her.

Rukia was barely listening to Rangiku, lost in her own thoughts as the woman explained that Gillian’s name was next to Gin’s on her phone. Only the sound of approaching steps in the thick snow broke Rukia from her stupor.

‘The American and Japanese riders have turned up now,’ it was Isshin, Toshiro’s dad and coach, ‘I don’t think there’s any point staying up here if you can’t practice your big tricks anymore.’

Another slice of guilt. Rukia had taken up their training time. Though she did eye Rangiku who was meant to have been training with Isshin but still managed to slip away and film a video, she didn’t look bothered at all.

‘So we have the afternoon off?’ the tall woman asked excitedly.

‘No,’ Isshin replied instantly like he’d been expecting Rangiku to say something along those lines, ‘you can all go to the gym, that’s my compromise.’

Rukia was hanging back behind Toshiro in the hopes that Isshin would forget she was there. Rukia had still not spoken to him after the embarrassment of being caught with Toshiro outside his hotel bedroom with her tongue down his son’s throat.

‘Yeah, like those two are going to work out.’ Rangiku scoffed, she said it quietly like she’d not really meant for Isshin to hear it but he did anyway and Rukia flushed again at the thought. Why did Rangiku have to remind him that his son was sleeping with her? On what planet was that appropriate?

‘They will,’ Isshin said sending Toshiro a firm glance, ‘because they are both professional athletes.’

‘Unlike you,’ Toshiro smirked at Rangiku and she gasped in offence. It seemed this kind of playful teasing was very common for the two of them.

‘No bickering,’ Isshin said quickly, ‘now go before I change my mind.’

Toshiro and Rangiku turned to leave but Rukia hung back for a moment, she wasn’t a complete monster that she could walk away without apologising to Isshin for interrupting their Olympic practice time. He seemed surprised for a moment when she didn’t immediately turn to follow Toshiro and she glanced up into his face, summoning courage.

‘I’m really, really sorry for interrupting the practice,’ Rukia mumbled it shyly, she wasn’t sure he’d heard her until he softly replied. 

‘Don’t be sorry, you’re always welcome,’ Isshin said, his voice so full of fatherly affection that it relaxed Rukia, ‘and that’s the first time I’ve seen him smile genuinely since… well since he saw you yesterday morning.’

Rukia could feel the heat creeping back up her neck at the compliment, she’d had no idea that she had that effect on Toshiro and she found herself wondering about it.

Isshin broke her thoughts again by reaching out and squeezing her shoulder, his large hand dominating that section of her body but his touch was gentle before he walked off. Rukia turned in time to see him ruffle Toshiro’s hair as he passed and followed Rangiku to the chairlift.

Rukia walked back to Toshiro’s side. He was waiting for her but didn’t say anything. Her mind was so full of questions. Why was he single, why did she make him smile? Did he like her? Was this worth pursuing? Could they make this work? Did he want to make this work? She worried her bottom lip into her mouth but didn’t vocalise a single one of them to Toshiro, who seemed to be letting her have time alone with her thoughts.

They got on the chairlift heading down and Toshiro reached out and held her hand. She grinned stupidly down at where they were connected her eyes flickering to his and he sent her a small smile.

‘I’m really glad you came today,’ Toshiro murmured, his voice low like he didn’t want the mountains to overhear what he was saying.

‘Me too,’ Rukia smiled back at him, ‘thanks for the lesson.’ It had been exactly what she’d needed. He didn’t have to take time out of his practice to spend with her and yet he’d did it anyway, helping to ground her and for once in the last few hours her mind wasn’t on her free skate the next day. The distraction had been perfect and she’d even learned to snowboard a little too.

They met back up with Rangiku and Isshin at the bottom of the lifts and the tall strawberry blonde and the coach broke off to head in the direction of the hotel. Rangiku hadn’t packed her gym things but Toshiro already had his with him and Rukia had hers all stuffed in her locker waiting for her at the gym.

Keeping her hand in his Toshiro flashed Rukia a grin as they made their way toward the gym and Rukia wondered what was secretly behind that look. Maybe he was just happy to spend more time with her or maybe he, like her, was excited to see what the workout routine of the other athlete was like.

Well that wasn’t entirely true, Rukia was just excited to see Toshiro in workout clothes, but that wasn’t how she vocalised it to him.

‘I’m excited to see what your workout regime is like,’ Rukia smirked at him, meaning a whole lot more than just that, ‘and how it compares to Gin’s.’

Rukia knew Gin’s inside out, a lot of it focused on speed and cardio, but Toshiro was more of a trickster, so would likely have elements to his workout that would be different.

The way she’d said it seemed to attract his attention, he fixed her with a new look, the mood between them shifted and his eyebrows rising.

‘Yeah,’ Toshiro said his tone hard to work out, ‘it will be interesting.’

They stepped into the gym to find it mostly empty, there were three men working out in their own sections of the gym and one of them had their coach with him barking orders but it was hard to hear over the load thumping bass of the gym music. They broke away finally letting go of each other’s hands to go and change.

Rukia didn’t take long, she had her gym outfit on under her clothes so simply had to remove her winter boots and replace them with her trainers. She decided not to take her headphones with her because she wanted to be able to talk to Toshiro as they worked out but she did still take her phone. Filling up her water bottle Rukia stepped back into the gym hall and waited on Toshiro.

In the gym there was a lull in the music, commercials came on the television including her ad she’d done for DC which had her scowling and pleased that Toshiro didn’t walk out at that exact moment. Rukia pulled her phone up to her face and brought up twitter so she could ignore the television. The next advert came on just as Toshiro emerged, a commercial all about women’s supportive underwear and Rukia didn’t look up at him as he stood beside her. Clearly looking for a conversation starter again he made a comment.

‘I don’t know how women do it, guys only have like three types of underwear, how do you even pick from the millions the kind of underwear you’re going to use?’ he chuckled at the end and Rukia, who was still looking down at her phone, smirked and replied.

‘Oh I know, that’s why I’m not wearing any.’

Boom, drop the microphone.

Rukia walked away from him in the direction of the running machines, with the intention of starting cardio. Her words had obviously stunned him and it took him a moment before he was running to catch back up with her.

The treadmills were lined up in front of the gym’s tainted glass windows and looked out over a snowy landscape. Rukia saw the reflection of Toshiro as she got on one of the machines and bit her lip, turning to glance at him fully when he got on the machine beside her. He was wearing a fitted black tank top that left his arms exposed to the gym air.

With his chest covered and his abs no longer a distraction she could truly appreciate his arms, the same way she had when he’d been wearing the sleeveless hoodie. Her eyes glanced over them for a moment and his gym shorts before she turned back to her own treadmill. Rukia caught sight of him staring at her in the reflection of the glass and she smirked to herself.

If there was ever a time she wished she could read minds it was right as she’d just made that last comment.

They didn’t speak, simply selected their settings and began to run. Toshiro (just like Gin) had opted more for a high intensity run with short periods of rest, while Rukia opted for a steady jog that would work on her stamina. She’d need it for her free skate and the last thing she wanted to do was over stretch herself and pull something just before the final skate of the Olympics.

They jogged and ran in companionable silence for a while, neither one of them breaking a sweat as the music continued to thrum around them.

‘How long do you spend in the gym?’ Toshiro asked, attempting to make conversation. This time she was kinder and didn’t tease him.

‘I don’t normally like being locked up in a gym,’ Rukia replied, ‘so usually only around four hours, no longer, if I can avoid it. I usually work out in the dance studio or go for a run outside.’ Her eyes slid back to his in their glass reflection. ‘What about you?’

‘Six to eight with breaks on days I’m not on the slopes,’ he said, ‘hard to find places to go for a jog when you’re up a snowy mountain.’ Toshiro grinned and she felt her throat constrict for a moment when those dimples flashed at her in the glass. He was more charming than he realised.

‘That’s about the same as Gin,’ she replied and his grin slid into a sideways smirk. Rukia rolled her eyes but felt the heat creeping back up her neck again completely against her will. She hated how easily embarrassed she was around him when she didn’t even understand why? Was this because she had feelings for him? What sense did that make, why did you even blush anyway what good did it do?

They chatted backwards and forwards for a bit of time around the competition but stayed clear of any personal conversations, until the sweat was prickling at the back of her neck and she pulled the hair bobble from her wrist to tie her hair up. When she glanced at Toshiro’s face in the glass now he was looking sideways at her neck, his head turned around for a better view and she felt that lurching feeling in her stomach again.

Maybe they were both getting so easily turned on because it had been almost a week since they’d both been laid? Rukia swallowed thickly at the thought, was that where their workout would lead? Gods she hoped so. She remembered Rangiku’s comment from up the mountain and wondered how easy it would be to tease Toshiro into a situation just like the one the strawberry blonde expected.

There was only one way to find out…

Rukia upped the speed of her treadmill, intending to make the sweat flow a little faster before getting off. Toshiro was still on the treadmill when Rukia finally got bored enough to leave, their time approaching almost an hour on the dull machine. She could feel Toshiro’s eyes on her as she moved silently away from him and off in the direction of the mirrors so she could check her posture. From where Rukia positioned herself she was still in view of Toshiro but only if he turned completely to his left to look at her. With a smirk Rukia turned her back to him, gazing in the mirror where she could see him reflected better than the glass and began to squat.

Legs, bums and thighs were a very common part of her workout, along with abs but she’d get there eventually. Toshiro seemed to be determinedly staring out of the window but eventually curiosity got the better of him. He turned around and stumbled on his treadmill as he spotted her mid squat. He managed to save himself though, his hands catching the end of the treadmill railing and his feet falling back in rhythm but he was smart enough to turn the speed back down, his face turning a beautiful shade of red as he did so.

Rukia pursed her lips but didn’t say anything, keeping an eye on her own reflection in the mirror as she continued. Toshiro stopped for a water break that mostly involved watching her until he gave up on the idea of the treadmill, likely deeming it to be too dangerous from where he was situated. He moved away around one of the walls of mirrors and out of sight and Rukia huffed a little. How was she meant to tease him if she couldn’t see him? She couldn’t exactly stop her current workout and follow him. That would make it far too obvious. She had to be more subtle than that.

Toshiro had moved off in the direction of the weight machines and Rukia made the decision after she was done with her squats she’d go and investigate. Another thirty minutes of squats had the sweat clinging a little more firmly around her neck and chest, her breaths coming in soft pants. She took her water bottle over to one of the machines and began to fill it up, her eyes travelling over to where she could now see Toshiro. He’d put on fingerless grip gloves and currently had a weight across the back of his shoulders while doing his own squats and Rukia wasn’t quite prepared for the delectable view of his ass that this presented. 

As he lowered himself into a squat his gym shorts clung tightly to his back side, the stitching in the centre riding in between his cheeks and presenting a full rounded view of his ass pressed against the material. Images of that perfect ass flooded back to her as she recalled just how toned and beautiful it was without any clothing obscuring her view.

Toshiro was focused intently on his own form in the mirror, his lips silently counting through his reps and the muscles in his legs constricting beautifully with each squat. Rukia hadn’t even realised she’d been staring for so long until she felt something wet on her ankle and looked down. She flushed, realising she’d overfilled her water bottle on the machine and the water had run down the edge of her bottle. With a curse she glanced up to make sure Toshiro hadn’t seen it.

He had.

His body was vibrating with silent laughter, he’d stopped squatting, and was now in danger of not being able to remove the weight from over his shoulders because he was laughing so hard. His laughter reached his eyes which were sparkling back at her from his reflection, his two dimples seemed to be mocking her as well and with another flush of embarrassment Rukia capped her bottle and scurried away.

Maybe it hadn’t been a good idea to follow him.

Rukia took up her position in a corner, out of Toshiro’s view, and in a sectioned off part of the gym that seemed to be used more as an open studio space, likely for classes. The wall she’d just walked around was lined from bottom to top with mirrors and in the corner was a stand where a few yoga mats waiting patiently for someone to select them.

There were steps lining against the wall and a small rack of free weights, which Rukia eyed up as she tried to cool her flaming cheeks against her cool water bottle. That had been a minor setback. Rukia was still convinced she could tease him but she’d wait until her embarrassment had dissipated first.

She remembered what his father had said that morning, “that’s the first time I’ve seen him smile genuinely since… well since he saw you yesterday morning.”

Even if it were at her expense she felt good that she could make him laugh. That laughter had been so genuine maybe it wasn’t such a big deal that she now looked like she’d had an accident. Rukia frowned down at her wet ankle and was glad she was wearing the skin tight black workout leggings, because the water marks weren’t as obvious. With a sigh she walked over to the bench, grabbed a couple of weights and began some lunges.

After another fifteen minutes or so Toshiro came around the side of the wall, screwing the top of his water bottle back on. He didn’t even look at her when he spoke, ‘didn’t spill a single drop.’ His voice was full of teasing banter and Rukia threw him a playful glare which he happily ignored. He then made his way over to the yoga mats and took one rolling it out on the floor.

Rukia tried not to eye up the way his vest top was now clinging to his chest with his sweat, remembering vividly when he’d been playing football with Karin and had lifted that haunting hoodie up to reveal those succulent muscles underneath.

What the hell was wrong with her? Rukia turned sharply to glare at her reflection in the mirror, she’d not been this horny in a long time. She’d not been this horny since she’d first laid eyes on him at the very beginning of the Olympics. Once again it struck her just how attracted to him she still was. Rukia glanced back to find him distracted, checking something on his phone, or maybe he was texting someone? Rukia tried to shake herself, focusing back on her form and continuing her lunges. After a few moments she became quite proud of herself and her lack of wandering eyes. She could feel Toshiro’s gaze as he finally put his phone away and moved out over the mat and that’s when her own eyes wandered, wondering what he was about to do.

She was not prepared for what he was about to do.

His body in a planking position but with arms extended he began to do push ups and though they may seem like an innocent method of working out, her soul wasn’t prepared for just how _good_ his arms looked while doing it. Straightening her form back up for fear of losing her balance she stared at him in the mirror with her mouth open. She knew he was strong of course, he’d managed to lift her on several occasions but she just assumed like her that snowboarders focused on their legs. Then Rukia remembered that his sport required him to flip and grab his board and to balance and move himself he likely had to use a lot more muscles than just his leg muscles.

The muscles in his arms were popping with each rep of his press-ups and he was staring straight down at the mat in front of him, mouth silently counting once again. The back of his vest clung to his back, his arms glistening and Rukia was _gone._ This was a one sided battle…

The images that flooded her mind were not appropriate for the public space they were in, even though this section of the gym was empty. She wondered what it would be like to be held by those muscles as he fucked her, up against a wall. Perhaps Rukia’s dirty thoughts made her gaze more powerful because in a split second he was glancing back up at her via the mirrors and smirking, like he knew exactly what was going through her mind. His sharp teal eyes were full of a playful kind of seduction and for once Rukia didn’t even feel embarrassed about being caught staring, she was beyond that now. Her eyes greedily took in his form, the way his arms moved and longed to see more. He raised a questioning brow to her in the mirror, his lips forgetting to count how many push-ups he was doing before he paused.

Another evil look seemed to cross his face for a second but when she blinked it was gone. He pushed himself up to his knees and reached down pulling his tank top off over his head and discarding it on the floor beside him.

Rukia was glad there was a thrumming base music sounding over the speakers so he couldn’t hear the animalistic noise that spilled from her mouth. He didn’t even spare her a glance as he went back to doing his push-ups and giving Rukia the best show of her life. His back was flawless, sexy, the way the muscles contorted with each push up. Shoulder muscles and arm muscles contracting in unison and his skin covered in a delicious layer of salty sweat.

Gods she wanted him so bad.

If Rukia were a guy she’d have a real problem right now, but thankfully she was a woman so didn’t have to suffer through embarrassing displays of arousal even if the evidence was obvious in her hungry gaze. Starting on calf rises she continued to just watch him like he was the most interesting episode of Game of Thrones.

Jon Snow who? She had Toshiro Shiba.

Rukia wasn’t even trying to think about how to win the game or bring herself back into the ring, right now she was knocked out, ding, ding, ding. Round one entirely gone to Toshiro and she didn’t care.

How could she even hope to come back from something like that anyway? It wasn’t like she could take her top off to match him. Rukia glanced back at her reflection. Her outfit consisted of a sky blue tight t-shirt and black leggings that clung to her in a sinful way just like her Irish ones did, they had blue stripes circling around one leg coming down to a stop just before her trainers. The look left a lot more to the imagination rather than laying it out for Toshiro to see… well all except the tight leggings.

She contemplated for a while, her eyes sliding back to Toshiro every now and again when she suddenly remembered the thought she’d had while getting ready for her short programme.

He’d not seen her warm up stretches yet.

With a smug smile on her face Rukia stopped her calf rises when her legs were beginning to burn and walked over to where the yoga mats were, unsurprised to find his eyes following her as she moved. Rukia took one of them and walked back, closer to the wall. She could practically feel his brain working to figure out what was about to happen next. Laying the mat out as close to the wall as she could without it causing her obstructions she started with some general yoga stretches.

Starting with the downward facing dog, she tried her best to ignore him and demonstrate her flexibility. Reaching down, she could lay her hands flat on the ground like it was nothing, then walked her hands out to the downward facing dog. From there she transitioned into upward facing dog and breathing. She closed her eyes and tried her best to will away the images of Toshiro’s muscles but it was very difficult.

When Rukia opened her eyes again she could see him staring at her in the mirror, his workout forgotten, and his whole head turned around to look at her. A smirk of satisfaction threatened to cross her lips but she managed to keep it hidden. Rising up onto her knees and creating an arch in her back had her in the cow yoga pose and despite its name was the perfect stance for doing it doggy style.

As if reading both their minds the music changed, “Sweat” by Jeff Mills coming over the sound system and Rukia cast a glance over to Toshiro who seemed to be having an internal battle between watching her and continuing with his workout. This time she didn’t hide her smile and he turned around catching her eye in the mirror where it was her turn to smirk at him.

Just like her, Toshiro didn’t look the least bit ashamed for being caught, actually, he turned back around and continued to watch her for a moment as he stood up. She eyed the sweat clinging to his beautiful abs and sighed as he turned around to pick up one of the free weights from the stand.

Rukia had no idea how heavy the weight was, but he took a seat on the steps she’d spotted earlier and began to curl his arm, the weight adding a new dynamic to the way his muscle bulged but his eyes were not on his arm they were on Rukia.

_Can you be my doctor?  
Can you fix me up?  
Can you wipe me down?  
So I can rock it rock it  
So I can make you give it up give it up  
Until you say my name  
Like a Jersey Jersey shuttin' down the game_

Rukia felt herself shudder, his gaze was like a physical caress and she could feel the ghost of his touch from the times they’d had sex before. The way his hands always seemed to find her ass, the way he’d squeeze it and massage it. Rukia twisted her body around into perfect splits, not even feeling a bit of burn from the position she was so used to being in. She flattened herself along the length of her leg, her hand grasping her trainer in a perfect display of her flexibility, but the only downside to this pose was she couldn’t watch the way Toshiro’s body moved when he lifted the weight.

Turning her head to the right she managed to watch him, his eyes were trained in on her, his expression turning darker with each passing second and she had to wonder if he was thinking the same dark thoughts she had on her mind. The idea sent a shudder of pleasure rolling down her spine and she stood up, out of the pose, turning her back to him and placing her hands on the wall. This was a common one for skaters to loosen up their hips, her ass sticking out behind her as she used the wall for balance, twisting her hips as much as she could, she knew he was getting a perfect view of her ass now, despite it being hidden behind her tight black leggings.

_I just wanna make you sweat  
I wanna make you sweat  
I just wanna make you sweat  
I wanna make you sweat  
Sweat, sweat_

_Can you, can you get me up like I'm late for my first class  
So I can give it to you rough like a first draft  
Hold you like a paper plane  
You know I got paper babe  
Them dollar bills  
Girl I'll make it rain_

Rukia tired her best to stay in this warm up for a while, wanting to leave him to his own lustful thoughts but she found herself longing to watch him again. After a few more minutes she turned back to him, his arm still curling absentmindedly with the weight like it was the only thing grounding him but his gaze was dark, all traces of playfulness gone. He just looked hungry, like a predator about to pounce and the obvious boner in his pants, which he was doing nothing to hide, only confirmed this.

Rukia groaned with longing, her eyes travelling over him, his arms, abs, his thick cock, she wanted it all and she wanted him now. Her mind was reeling There was no way she could survive a potentially disappointing walk back to one of their rooms only to find it occupied. It was too early for Soi Fon to be gone, she couldn’t guarantee it would be free right now or that they’d even make it before she jumped him.

Instead her eyes flickered back to the girls changing room. When they’d walked in there had been three guys and one male coach but there didn’t appear to be any female athletes in the gym, it was probably their best bet. Forgoing her stretches for a second, she turned and walked away from the little studio section they’d been in, her eyes doing a quick sweep of the gym to see only two male athletes left but still no females.

A wicked grin spilled over her face and she opened the door to the female changing rooms, jumping inside to check and to her delight there was no one. The large shower stalls and changing areas were completely free. She clicked open her locker and reached into her bag, grabbing one of the condoms she’d swiped from him and put in inside her sports bra before making her way back out into the gym.

Rukia walked back to where Toshiro was last, he was still curling his weight but this time in the other hand and his eyes snapped onto her the moment she walked around the corner. His gaze still looked as animalistic as it did before and she felt another shudder run through her at the thought of how rough the sex could be if he were this turned on. Rukia prowled over to him, noticing with a smirk of pride that he was still pretty hard in his gym shorts and hadn’t bothered to do a thing about it.

Unable to resist she put her leg up on the wall close by him, her legs once again in a perfect split, but this time very close to his face. Even over the music she heard him make a noise, his eyes travelling down the length of her leg, resting on her ass for a bit before continuing lower, her eyes on his dick which had just twitched in his shorts.

‘The girl’s showers are completely empty,’ Rukia started but he didn’t need any more convincing than that. The weight was abandoned on the floor within a second and he was rising up, his eyes on her like a physical feeling and with a smirk she took his hand and led him off. He didn’t seem to care at all if anyone saw them sneaking into the girls changing, his eyes only for her and she felt the exact same. He’d even forgotten his tank top which still lay abandoned in the gym somewhere but as soon as that shower room door was closed all thoughts ceased.

The wind felt like it was knocked out of her and it took her a second to even register what had happened. Toshiro had her pushed up against the shower wall, in his arms so quickly she didn’t even register being lifted and his teeth were now hot on her throat like he wanted to mark her again but was just barely resisting. With no choker to impede his progress, Rukia melted helplessly against him. She’d been right, it was _animalistic_. He was making noises she’d never heard him make before, like he was already groaning at the thought of what they were about to do. Her eyes shot open, looking over his shoulder to see the shower cubicle door closed and locked and blinked in surprise, she hadn’t even remembered doing that?

His lips on her neck became more frantic, his teeth grazing her skin, her legs were wrapped around his waist for balance, her fingers digging into the flesh of his exposed back. She could feel the cool sweat on his skin from where it was drying and about to be replaced by new sweat, her fingers slid up into his hair and she tugged earning a deep low moan from the back of his throat. Toshiro seemed to be trying to get her top off with one hand, but while she was still pressed against the shower room wall it was proving difficult and the brain functions usually required for such a task didn’t seem to be working in his favour today. A frustrated growl slipped from his throat and he took a step back away from the wall, his lips disconnecting from her skin for a second to bark a command.

‘Off,’ he growled and Rukia smirked, pursing her lips as she did her best to wriggle out of her shirt despite the limited room he was giving her to do so. Behind him was a ledge where the athletes could put their bags and changes of clothes up off the floor of the shower so they didn’t get wet, she tossed her t shirt onto it and her bra soon followed. The packaged magnum condom slipped out as she navigated herself awkwardly, Toshiro’s eyes followed it and darkened again. Just as she aimed her bra for the same ledge as her shirt, Toshiro’s lips were back on her neck, a new edge of desperation to his kisses.

‘You can’t fuck me while I’m still half dressed,’ Rukia gasped and he simply groaned in response, as if this was a major inconvenience. Stepping away from the wall again his arms lowered to allow her to stand on her own but the look on his face made it seem like this caused him physical pain. Rukia smirked up at him, just as turned on as he was and watching as he ran a hand sexily through his hair, his large teal eyes black with lusty hormones and his eyes trained in on her as she kicked her shoes off and removed her leggings quickly tossing them all up onto the ledge behind them.

She reached down and tugged at his gym shorts, the bulge in them just as obvious as that sexy photoshoot he’d done before. Toshiro seemed to get the hint and undressed quickly, Rukia’s eyes on his dick the moment it became available for her viewing pleasure. It was swollen and an angry red, beading pre cum and seemed to twitch the moment he turned to face her again. The condom was clutched tight in his fist. He reached down to hoist her back up into his arms.

If she thought the lull to get changed would have slowed the pace down she was mistaken. His lips were on hers with a new kind of desperation like a man who’d been deprived of a woman’s touch for years. The kiss was a lot more chaotic than any of their previous ones had been, his sense of urgency coming through strongly. Rukia gasped into his mouth as his fingers found her entrance and he pressed inside. She groaned, not realising herself how much she needed this or how much she’d been looking forward to this. It was bliss just to feel any part of him inside her.

Two of his fingers slipped in effortlessly and he moaned into her mouth, likely at how wet she was and how easy it was for him to enter her. Despite their desperation she was appreciative that he still took the time to prep, especially given the girth he’d been blessed with. Toshiro’s fingers were moving on their own accord, like they’d been pre-programmed and were carrying out a function that came to them as effortlessly as breath. His lips didn’t seem to have the same pre-programmed setting, his mouth practically hanging open against hers and his breath panting into her mouth making her dizzy with need.

Fuck, he was still so attractive, he was still just as thrilling as the first time she’d slept with him, his taste his scent, the feel of him, everything was such a turn on. Even the sounds he was making as he gasped for breath inside her mouth.

‘Toshiro,’ Rukia groaned against him, his fingers curling sweetly inside her and causing her to gasp. He was managing to hold her up with one arm and from their position his fingers couldn’t get very deep, which didn’t bother her too much given that it was the entrance he really needed to prep for his dick anyway. Moaning her name into his mouth seemed to cause a full body shudder, then he pulled his two fingers out before thrusting three in.

Rukia moaned, her mouth leaving his finally and the sound vibrating around the tiled space. If any other girls had walked in and not known what was happening, they’d sure know now.

And that was when she heard it, the high pitched girly giggle that caused Toshiro to freeze.

‘I _knew_ you two wouldn’t be working out,’ the familiar voice sang.

‘Rangiku?’ Rukia blinked and heard the girl laugh again.

‘Do you need condoms? Lube? I stopped off and bugged Ichigo until he let me in to get you guys some, don’t worry I have you covered!’ she slid the two packages under the gap at the bottom of the shower door, from the shower stall next to theirs and Toshiro groaned, his head falling into the crook of Rukia’s neck and the skater realised she was being put down onto the floor, his fingers sliding out of her. With wide eyes she blinked out of her dazed lusty state and glanced down to see a magnum condom and beside it a package more than double its size, a sachet of lube that they’d been giving out for free to the athletes.

‘Are you two having fun?’ Rangiku seemed to be determined to torture them as long as she could and Rukia glanced at Toshiro. He had his face in his hands and his boner was dying in front of her eyes.

‘Rangiku!’ Rukia snapped at her causing the other girl to giggle.

‘Is he getting stage fright?’ she asked, ‘sorry, I’ll go.’

That only caused Toshiro to groan more, the heat creeping across his cheeks and spilling down over his chest. Rukia wasn’t someone who got easily annoyed but she’d really been enjoying that dominate animalistic side of Toshiro and using just her voice, Rangiku had ruined it. Rukia turned to glare at the wall where she knew the girl had been standing, but true to her word, and with a final parting laugh, Rangiku left.

Once the door to the girls changing areas had closed, signifying Rangiku’s dismissal, Rukia had expected Toshiro to snap out of it, but he didn’t. He stood there with his face in his hands, his boner well and truly gone.

‘Toshiro,’ Rukia stepped toward him and tried to prise his hands from his face but he was far too strong. The air between them was tinged with awkwardness now, but Rukia was determined, ‘don’t you dare stop,’ she said her voice as playful as she could make it. ‘That was shaping up to be some of the best sex in my life.’

That at least earned a chuckle, his shoulders seemed to relax and she smirked up at him when one large eye finally peered at her over the top of his hands.

‘And have I ever told you how unfairly attractive you are?’ Rukia smirked and that caused a different blush to appear on his face, he was grinning now though. She gently prised his hands away from his face, where those two little dimples she loved were winking back at her. Smiling sheepishly down at her she winked at him. ‘How about a blowjob?’

Toshiro choked on whatever words had been about to leave his mouth and just like he’d done to her a week ago, she began to kiss down his chest. Rukia slowly sunk toward her knees, her kisses glossing over those beautiful abs on her descent. The muscles tightened as she stopped for a few moments to pay them particular attention. She even sucked her own mark into his flesh just above the left side of his marble crafted V muscle. Toshiro didn’t say anything but let out a soft groan, his hand sliding into her hair encouragingly and she was pleased to see enough blood had found its way back to his dick so she could at least take it into her mouth without it feeling awkward.

‘Yes,’ Toshiro moaned so quietly that Rukia almost didn’t hear it. She glanced up at him and his eyes were turning dark again staring down at her. Rukia had her lips wrapped around his dick and tried to swallow as much of it into her mouth as she could. It became more of a challenge the harder it became, the blood rushing back into it until it was fully hard once more and the sense of urgency that had been with them out in the gym slowly started to come back. The parts of him she couldn’t fit into her mouth she used her hand to grasp and stroke in time with her lips.

Rukia continued her bobbing for a while, sucking harshly on the head, collecting the pre-cum on her tongue and groaning at the taste of him. It was that same musky manly flavour that she loved so much but on Toshiro it was so much sweeter, a flavour she remembered well from when she’d sucked him off under the table in the bar. He leaned forward over her with another low throaty moan, his arm coming to rest against the wall and as she glanced back up at him again she saw him looking down, watching her intently.

Fuck she could get used to this. She loved the fact she could bring him pleasure and the thought of anyone else doing it made an ugly possessive and rather green emotion rise like hot lava in her stomach. Well if this didn’t work out and they did part ways Rukia had to make sure he remembered her, make sure she’d ruined all other women for him. With an evil smirk around his dick and remembering some of what he’d told them in the hot tub her hand reached around to grab his ass before Rukia spanked it as hard as she could.

The effect was immediate, his dick twitched in her mouth, going a little further back into her throat but she managed to stop herself gagging by easing off it. His eyes went wide with shock, like he couldn’t believe what she’d just done and with another evil smirk up at him and swallow around his dick she spanked him again, this time harder.

Toshiro’s free hand fisted her hair and tugged, it wasn’t harsh but it wasn’t gentle either and to stop him ripping chunks she went with him willingly, his dick falling from her mouth. Rukia’s hand fumbled for the condom and lube wrapper before they were out of her reach and she clung onto them as she rose back up onto her feet. He was breathing heavy, his eyes, if possible, even darker than they had been before Rangiku had shown up and before she knew what was happening he was crushing their mouths together. Rukia went pliant under his touch, the dominating side of him that had been flaring before came back out to play and he reached down, grasping her ass harshly and she knew what was coming a second before it happened. The sound of his hand on her flesh echoed around the small shower cubicle and she gasped into his mouth as he moaned.

‘Fuck,’ Toshiro breathed against her lips, Rukia could feel the tingle of her flesh from where he’d struck her. It wasn’t unpleasant but it did take her a moment to appreciate the feeling. She wasn’t used to being dominated, wasn’t used to letting a man dominate her, she was always, always in control.

But Toshiro was different.

Rukia relented to his touch so easily, his tongue in her mouth was causing hers to submit and his fingers sliding back inside to prep her once again. Rukia barely resisted the urge to laugh into his mouth guessing that he wished he had more hands so he could holder up, spank her and prep her all at the same time. His dick seemed to be winning and soon Rukia felt the three fingers slip back inside, prepping her entrance. Rukia groaned, their tongues stroking each other’s in her mouth before he retracted his to gasp for breath. Everything about him was filling her up and making it difficult to think straight. Toshiro was separating his fingers to gently stretch her but the sense of urgency was still there in the way he moved his wrist. He broke away and glanced down at the floor, clearly looking for the condoms and lube. Rukia brought her hand from where it had been slung around his neck and pressed them into his chest.

Turning back to her he smirked, his fingers slipping out and he collected the condom wrapper first, ripping it open with his teeth his hand disappeared out of sight and Rukia shuddered, knowing fine well that he was rolling the condom on over that thick cock of his. Her shudder only caused him to smirk wider, his hand coming back up for the second time to take the sachet of lube, he ripped that open with his teeth too and some of it dribbled onto his fingers before his hand was disappearing out of view again.

Toshiro ducked his head down and captured her lips just as she felt him press against her. He was guiding himself with his hand and Rukia was momentarily stunned by the fact he was still managing to keep her upright with one arm. From this angle he wouldn’t be able to get deep like he could in the bedroom, but that didn’t stop him from trying. He pushed in and swallowed her moans, the urgency returning to the both of them as she gasped and groaned into his mouth.

‘ _Fuck yes, Toshiro_ ,’ Rukia moaned breaking away from the kiss with a gasp, her head thrown back against the wall of the shower that she was now pressed back up against. Once he was as far inside as he could go he started thrusting, it took them a few moments to work out how he could hold her without hurting her and once they got a rhythm going he began pounding her ruthlessly against the shower wall.

The noises that began to leave her mouth, she was pretty sure, weren’t human. Her hands began clawing at his back. Toshiro took a moment to adjust his hold on her, shifting her over into his other arm so that his left arm was getting a break from taking her weight. Rukia had never felt this safe in someone’s arms before. In his hold she felt like there was nothing else that could hurt her, nothing to fear. Her concerns over her free skate, her brother, the Olympics, all and any thoughts that had been nagging at her seemed to just be absorbed by him and disappear from her mind.

It was such a tender thought to have at an otherwise very non tender time. Toshiro pulled away from her his eyes set on her neck and he ducked down toward it. Rukia tilted her head to the side groaning as those lips and teeth connected with her flesh once more. Then she felt it, the sharp sting on her ass again and he groaned into her neck.

‘F-fuck,’ Rukia gasped, but her voice wasn’t at all pained, actually the flash of pain had thrummed into a dull pleasure, her muscles constricting around his member which was still pumping in and out of her. She swallowed and felt him spank her again, his thrusts turning more ruthless and she wasn’t at all prepared for just how quickly he’d come undone.

With one last tough spank to her skin he bit down harshly against her neck again and his body froze in place. She blinked in shock, her mouth falling open as he stilled, his body shaking with the effort of keeping her in his arms as he came. From their position when he started to go soft he slipped out and pulled back.

‘Fuck,’ Toshiro groaned a soft chuckle leaving his throat and he glanced guiltily down at her as she slid down to stand on her own feet.

‘Well that was fast,’ Rukia smirked and watched the colour creep back across his face.

‘Cut me some slack,’ his eyes hungrily took her in, ‘I’ve wanted to spank you since the moment I first saw you.’

Her mouth twitched at these words, the smirk quite possessive on her lips as she gazed up at him. Rukia could still feel the thrumming throb on the cheek of her ass. She opened her mouth to make another snide comment to him but before she could he had her back up into his arms turning her around so fast it made her head spin.

‘What are you-?’ Rukia started asking but he put her down on the ledge where their clothes had been tossed. He reached out to shove them all back and left Rukia there as he removed the condom and shoved it into the empty lube foil wrapper then turned and hit the shower on. The water splattered noisily against the floor and Rukia raised her eyebrows at him, wondering what the hell he was doing?

‘What are you doing?’ she asked and he turned to her with a confident smirk.

‘Just thought you wouldn’t want to be heard?’ it was all he said and she stared at him in confusion as he moved over in-between her legs and leaned down to capture her lips. Still confused she accepted his lips and let his tongue explore her mouth again. When he broke away she realised what he was planning on doing, his fingers were at her entrance again and his head was ducking down to capture her nipple of her left breast. She gasped, she hadn’t expected him to finish her off!

Yet it seemed that was exactly what was on his mind. His fingers slid easily back inside her, curling just right and causing her head to flop back uselessly against the ledge. It was a good thing she weighed nothing otherwise they’d be at risk of breaking this useful part of the shower cubicle but that thought didn’t seem to disturb Toshiro who was now abusing her with such surety of his actions it was hard to think straight enough to care.

He found that sweet spot inside of her with little difficulty, like he’d memorised a map of it and she was thankful he’d put the shower on now because her moan would have been so much louder if not dampened by the sound of the water. Toshiro’s mouth and hand continued to cup and abuse her breasts only adding to the pleasure but Rukia lost all thoughts completely when the thumb of his other hand began to flick across her clit as well. She wasn’t going to last long at this rate, her gasps of pleasure the only real coherent warning she could get across to Toshiro as she allowed her body to just lie there and _feel_ him.

As soon as Toshiro swapped to her other side, abusing her other nipple and clamping down on it with his teeth Rukia was gone, calling his name and arching up into his touch. He continued to stroke her through her orgasm and when she finally started to settle again, her breathing coming back to normal she glanced down at him. Toshiro was smiling up at her, his chin resting carefully in the crevice between her breasts and an innocent smile on his face.

‘I didn’t think,’ Rukia panted, ‘that you’d finish me off after.’

He seemed taken aback by that, his off white eyebrows shooting up into his hair which had started to dampen with the moisture of the steam from the shower.

‘What?’ Toshiro asked, ‘hasn’t any of your other boyfriends done that for you before?’

It was Rukia’s turn to flush now. She felt a bubble of shame wash over her for her reputation for the first time in her life. Rukia had never cared but suddenly admitting she’d never had a boyfriend before seemed like such a childish thing to admit.

Toshiro was watching her intently, those two eyebrows back in view and furrowed together as if he were trying to understand her reaction.

‘I’ve never,’ Rukia shook her head sitting up because she felt a little too exposed under his gaze lying down like that, ‘I’ve never had a boyfriend.’ She said it quietly hoping the reveal would just be washed away in the water of the shower as she finally slipped from the ledge and back onto her feet, Toshiro moving to give her the space and ability to do so.

Rukia stepped under the stream of water and let it wash away all the thoughts swirling in her head. It had been fine when she'd been in the throes of sex but now that they were done and the adrenaline was over, her poisonous thoughts were starting to swirl and the looming thought of her free skate the next day was starting to terrify her again.

Toshiro seemed thoughtful, contemplative, if the silence was anything to go by, but Rukia was pointedly not looking at him.

‘Would you ever want one?’ he asked finally, ‘a boyfriend, I mean.’

'I-' Rukia hesitated as Toshiro slipped in close beside her and felt the heat creep across her cheeks. 'I guess I never thought about it,' she deflected casually not really giving him an answer and hoping that he'd maybe let it go, 'what about you? Why are you single?' Rukia asked as she reached out and pulled him closer to her in the shower and grabbed one of the little packets of soaps that were sitting and opening it with her teeth.

'I was dating this girl, Momo, for over three years,' Toshiro admitted, 'we broke up about seven months ago. Since then, I’ve been too focused on the Olympics to date anyone.' She jerked at his response becoming thoughtful as she lathered her hands up and reached out to start washing his chest, her brows furrowed in concentration. That was the name that Karin had started to ask about during the never have I ever game the night after they'd slept together. Rukia was sure of it, the one they thought he had on his ass. It surprised her how open and honest he was and she felt herself sigh in resignation, if he were willing to be that open and honest she should be too.

'I'll admit I'm surprised I thought for sure someone as perfect as you should have a girlfriend but if you broke up and wanted to focus on the Olympics I guess that makes sense,' she lapsed into silence again, her fingers tracing the lines of his muscles as she washed him. 'I never decided to not have a boyfriend, I just didn't have time for one you know? I guess... I wouldn't say I'd be opposed to it, I just never really thought of it...'

'I didn’t break up with Momo because of the Olympics,' Toshiro felt the need to clarify, 'I loved having a girlfriend, there’s nothing better than coming home after a hard day of training to that kind of comfort and affection, but she grew very possessive, to the point she was lying about being pregnant and accusing me of cheating on every girl I knew, including my sister.' Rukia's mouth fell open at that... she'd pretended to be... to be pregnant... Rukia had stopped washing him, her mouth still open at his words and she gazed up at him in shock. What a disgusting human being! Who in their right mind would... could ever do that to another human being?

'I don’t miss Momo,' Toshiro chuckled, 'but I do miss coming home to someone every night.' She was still frozen from where she'd been washing him, her shock still evident on her face.

'She pretended...' Rukia shook her head, 'cheating with your sister?' she snorted, 'not to judge your taste in women but... she sounds like a nutcase. I'm sorry that happened to you...' Rukia managed to restart her arms, her head still swirling on the information she'd heard. She knew she'd be dwelling on that again at some point. But something else was nagging at her mind, coming home to someone... every night... Rukia remembered her dream so vividly and felt her face flush, not wanting to admit she'd had a dream like that instead tried to coax him into turning around so she could wash his back...

Toshiro allowed himself to be turned around, responding as Rukia continued to wash the sweat from his skin. She was enjoying just having an excuse to touch him, his flawless back made her sigh in content, his skin was soft and the large bruise looked like it was healing.

‘She’s definitely a nut case, but she did love me, even if it was a twisted and painful type of love.’ He said before turning back around and taking the bar of soap from her grasp. Rukia smiled sheepishly up at him when he started to run it over her body just the same as she'd been doing to him. She could still feel the heat in her cheeks but now tinged with the hot water she hoped he'd just assume it was a flush from the heat causing it.

'How are you feeling about tomorrow? It’s okay, be honest,' Toshiro questioned and Rukia bit her lip. She could feel the thought of tomorrow weighing on her heavily and her shoulders slumped in defeat, watching as he ran the bar of soap down her arm.

'Not good,' Rukia mumbled, 'probably the most nervous I've been about a competition in years...'

How much do you want to win gold this year?' Toshiro asked, 'I bet there’s a lot of pressure from home for you to.'

'Yeah,' Rukia sighed, turning around now so that he could get her back and bracing her hands on the wall of the shower to steady herself. She lowered her head so she wasn't getting hit full on the in face with the stream of water and turned to the side so she could still talk, 'I try to stay away from the internet though, I find that I don't care much for what people have to say about me, although I have found a lot of fun recently in this trending RukiShiro tag.'

'I can’t believe how much it has taken off.'

Rukia felt her mouth twitch at his words, she couldn't really believe it either but now with him tenderly washing her back she could feel it. Toshiro put the bar down but didn't stray too far away from her, wrapping his arms around her from behind. She felt the tender kiss at the back of her neck and melted against him. 'I know you’ll medal tomorrow, and I’ll be there to watch, and if you don’t win the gold, everyone is still going to be so proud of you. You’ve had an amazing career and missing one gold won’t make you any less successful.'

Rukia smiled softly at his words, the comfort soaking into her and once again his hold seemed to lift the weight she was carrying from her shoulders, as if he were sharing the burden with her so she didn't have to carry it alone.

'Gold,' Rukia snorted, 'I don't care about winning gold, I want to land my jump.' She felt her throat constrict around her next words, but she needed him to know... needed him to understand... suddenly it just seemed so important. 'Gold medals don't comfort you at night,' she said her voice getting soft, 'they aren't there to help when you're sick. They don't talk to you when you feel lonely, they don't care if you’re laughing or crying. All my gold’s have been gathering dust for years now, there's no comfort in them anymore. For too many years I've relied on the feeling of winning to distract me from the things I lack in my life, just one more... just one more gold... one more world title, one more Olympic medal... the next one, the next one, the next one will make me feel better, will take the pain for my sister’s death away.' She shook her head and laughed softly, 'sorry that got very heavy, just being here with you and Rangiku and Gin and seeing you and your family... I'm starting to see there's so much more to life I want.' She shut her mouth quickly, afraid she'd said too much.

'You’re lonely,' Toshiro murmured eventually and Rukia felt that defensive feeling rise in her, the need to say that she wasn't, to defend her actions but she beat it down. She'd just laid herself bare to him and of course he knew, if he couldn't tell just by her words he'd surely have been able to tell by her body language and tone. But as with anything, he didn't leave her out on her own, he met her halfway. 'I know that feeling too well. It’s awful. That’s why I put up with Momo for so long, because I was scared to go back to feeling lonely.'

Toshiro turned her around and Rukia went, still pliant to his touch, gazing up into those large teal eyes that were so soft and warm. He reached down and kissed her gently. It wasn't a kiss to stir anything, it was simply a gesture of comfort just as the hug had been and she had to restrain herself from chasing his lips as he pulled back. He didn't go far though, his forehead resting close to hers and she kept her eyes closed at their proximity, leaning into him. She could feel those emotions from before bubbling inside her and swallowed it down. 'You have your brother and Gin and if you let them in, you won’t feel so isolated, and you’ll have me for as long as you want. Rangiku too, but I’m not sure why you’d want that menace around.'

Rukia felt her stomach jolt at his words. Did he mean it like she thought he meant it? Or did he simply mean just for the Olympics? He hadn't specified that though... but she didn't want to get her hopes up and assume. Rukia wasn't sure how to respond to his comment, she wanted to seek clarification on his words but found herself hesitant... her free skate was tomorrow if she'd gotten the wrong idea and Toshiro said it was just for the Olympics right now, the crushing feeling for rejection would likely throw off all her hard work and impact her performance for the next day... no... it wasn't a good time to talk feelings. Tomorrow... tomorrow after her free skate, she'd open up to him.

'Thank you,' Rukia settled on simply, leaning forward and standing on her tip toes to kiss him again gently before pulling back.

His eyes were sparkling kindly as he gazed down at her, it looked like he maybe wanted to ask her more questions and Rukia felt the same, but her feet was starting to ache from the hard tiles so she decided to postpone it for another time and proposed that they wrap the shower up instead.

They took turns washing their hair under the spray and Rukia marvelled at how Toshiro’s hair reacted to the water, she watched in fascination as it lost its gravity defying spikes and fell long down one side of his face before he stepped out and realised with a trace of apprehension he didn’t have a towel.

They’d been too horny to really think this all through. Rukia managed to get her towel out of her locker and they had to share it, Toshiro chose to dry his body more than his hair and dressed back into his gym shorts. Rukia slipped outside to let him know the coast was clear he quickly darted back to the men’s changing rooms where he could dry his hair properly and dress into something clean.

Rukia glanced over to see Rangiku on a running machine, Toshiro’s gym shirt and their two water bottles beside her and felt a slight rush of fondness for the girl while instantly feeling guilty for snapping at her. Rukia made her way over and Rangiku spotted her reflection in the glass, pulling an earphone out and smirking widely at her.

‘Did you two have fun?’ she asked with an air of a cat that had all the cream.

Rukia rolled her eyes but smirked all the same.

‘Yes, thanks for the lube. Sorry for snapping at you, I just didn’t know that Rangiku Matsumoto would have a voice that would kill a boner.’

Rangiku looked both affronted at the tease and impressed, she thankfully laughed, likely because she didn’t have a proper retort.

‘What are you two doing now?’ Rangiku asked turning to study Rukia’s face. Rukia blinked at her, she hadn’t really thought about it… should they do something else together? They’d already had sex, what more was there to do? Rukia glanced around the gym and shrugged.

‘I don’t know, I was just going to go back to the hotel room,’ Rukia could tell from Rangiku’s face that she’d said something wrong, the strawberry blonde woman opened her mouth to reply but at that moment Toshiro was back at her side.

‘Thanks Rangiku,’ he said as he lifted his gym shirt and water bottle and stuffed them into his bag. Rangiku closed her mouth, whatever she’d just been about to say to Rukia being forgotten in his presence. ‘Ready to go?’ Toshiro asked hopefully, his hand on the small of Rukia’s back as he’d done with her so many times before and it took all of Rukia’s self-control not to melt into the touch.

‘Sure,’ she said on instinct and watched as a very satisfied look crossed Rangiku’s face before Toshiro was leading them away. They made it outside the gym doors and into a small hallway that connected the gym to the canteen where a lot of the athletes were eating before they bumped into a very familiar face.

Rangiku wasn’t the only one who looked like a cat who’d gotten the cream.

‘Well, well, well,’ the voice of Chris washed over her and Rukia felt her cheeks going red before she could stop them. Christophe was wearing a large fur jacket that looked like it would have belonged to Madame Maxime and yet he somehow still managed to make it look stylish. ‘If it isn’t my favourite ship, have you two not sailed yet?’

‘Hello Christophe,’ Rukia said quickly, ignoring his question and doing an introduction, ‘this is Toshiro Shiba, Toshiro this is Christophe, the gentleman who is helping me sort out the sound for tomorrow’s performance.’

Toshiro shook Chris’ hand as he greeted him and Chris beamed happily down at him.

‘You’re even more attractive in person, it’s very clear why Rukia can’t seem to keep her hands off you.’

‘Chris,’ Rukia hissed at him flushing and glaring at the tall blond as he cackled happily at her reaction.

‘What?’ Chris asked innocently, ‘it’s true, besides are you trying to tell me you haven’t just had sex? Please, I have a sixth sense for that kind of thing. I can practically smell it on you.’

‘Let’s go,’ Rukia hissed at Toshiro tugging the bemused and slightly embarrassed snowboarder away from the tall Swiss man.

‘You’re all set for tomorrow,’ Chris called happily after Rukia, still laughing cruelly at the retreating couple, ‘have a _good_ night.’

‘How did he know?’ Toshiro asked when they were finally out of earshot of him and he cast a glance back over his shoulder.

‘Because it’s Chris,’ Rukia sighed, ‘he was the king of erotic and inappropriate skating when I was in juniors. If anyone knows, it’s Chris.’

‘He sounds like a male version of Rangiku,’ Toshiro sighed but Rukia noticed there seemed to be a slight skip in his step, like he was really happy about something.

When they got to the section outside that was between their two hotels, Rukia hesitated. She was suddenly overcome with an urge to invite Toshiro back to spend the night at her room. But she wasn’t really sure how to word it without seeming desperate or stupid… an embarrassed flush rose in her cheeks and she stopped walking eyeing the two hotels as if they were betraying her.

‘Hm? Rukia?’ Toshiro asked, noticing the fact she’d stopped because her hand had been in his.

‘Look,’ she glanced around trying her best not to look at him, ‘did you want to come back-’

‘RUKIA!’ she turned around quickly at the sound of her name. Soi Fon and Gin were making their way over toward them laughing and looking elated about something.

‘What’s up Tosh?’ Gin asked grinning down at him as he approached and Toshiro smiled pleasantly back at him.

‘Hey Gin,’ Toshiro’s eyes flickered back to Rukia’s briefly but the confidence she’d had before had vanished.

‘Rukia you’ll never guess who just had a nasty accident on the slopes?’ Soi Fon asked looking elated at the news. Rukia blinked, trying to cast her mind back to someone who would make Soi Fon look this happy if they’d had a nasty accident. It didn’t seem that Rukia would be made to guess at all though as Soi Fon filled her in.

‘Lilynette Gingerbuck,’ she cackled, ‘she’ll be out of the competition now for sure. Serves her right, she made Nel cry again.’

Gin winced at that and Soi Fon had her jaw set, Rukia knew that the two got on well with Nel, she was a sweet girl with long green hair that made her very easy to spot on the slopes. For a while Rukia was sure that maybe Gin would ask her out but it turned out that Nel was already engaged.

‘She made Nel cry again?’ Rukia frowned, glancing to Gin who folded his arms and nodded.

‘Aye she did, fuckin’ wee shite bag,’ he sighed, ‘ach well, karma’s a bitch an’ oor best pal it seems.’

‘It was amazing to watch,’ Soi Fon said gleefully, ‘wish I’d gotten it on camera, anyway, you coming back to the hotel?’

Rukia was aware that at some point she’d let go of Toshiro’s hand and she shuffled uncomfortably at these words. If she appeared awkward, Soi Fon didn’t seem to notice waving to Toshiro and starting off in the direction of the hotel, only slowing to wait for Rukia to catch up.

‘Where’s Rangiku?’ Gin asked with a smile.

‘The gym,’ Toshiro replied quickly and Rukia turned to spare him a glance, he had his hands thrust deep into his pockets, his frown causing his eyebrows to pinch together.

‘Ah’ll go an’ get mah gym stuff then,’ he walked forward with Soi Fon and that left Rukia in a really awkward position.

‘Oh um, I’ll see you later?’ Rukia said to Toshiro as she took a step toward Gin and Soi Fon. His shoulders seemed to slump a little but he fixed a smile on his face regardless.

‘Yeah, course you will.’

Rukia turned and walked with Gin and Soi Fon, throwing a longing glance back over her shoulder at Toshiro who hadn’t budged a muscle. He was watching them depart with an expression that was foreign to her etched on his face, his hands still deep in his pockets and his bag still hanging loosely off his back.

The full regret didn’t hit her until she was back in her hotel room. Soi Fon was jumping around packing a bag and seeming ridiculously happy about the other girl’s accident. Rukia fell down onto her bed, her face pressed down into her cold pillow and sighed awkwardly against the fabric. She’d never spent a night with a guy she’d liked before, mostly because she didn’t often like the guys she slept with.

But Toshiro was different.

Rukia had wanted to spend the night with him, her time with him was dwindling and they didn’t have long now until the end of the Olympics. She frowned against the soft sheets before turning her face to the side so she could breathe properly.

‘Don’t sit about being miserable tonight,’ Soi Fon instructed, ‘I’m giving you the room for a reason, I expected Toshiro to come back with you.’ She laughed as she shoved something into a bag. Rukia watched her for a while and realised that neither Gin nor Soi Fon would really have cared if Toshiro had come back to the hotel room with her. It was only Rukia who was projecting her awkward embarrassment onto other people.

‘Yeah well,’ she grumbled.

‘Text him,’ Soi Fon lifted her chin in the direction of the side table where Rukia’s phone was plugged in to charge.

Rukia opened her mouth to reply but shut it quickly as her phone lit up and went off with an incoming text. She scrambled up and grabbed at the device ignoring the chuckle that Soi Fon sent her as she continued to pack her things.

**Toshiro, 19:42pm:** S.O.S Ichigo and Renji are doing inappropriate things in my bedroom (face palm)

Rukia felt her chest swell, the world was giving her a second chance! She grinned down at her device, so focused on the conversation she missed it entirely when Soi Fon slipped out of the room with a quick farewell.

**Rukia, 19:43pm** : My condolences (crying laughter) If you need a place to crash my room mate is out tonight. But it will cost you. (winky face)

Rukia re-read the message before hitting that send button. There. That wasn’t too desperate? She thought she came across as aloof and funny. Her eyes scanned the heading of Whatsapp which told her that Toshiro was online, the two ticks changing to blue within an instant to tell her he’d read her message. He began typing, and she waited, still smiling stupidly down at her phone.

**Toshiro, 19:43pm:** Well now… it depends what it will cost (thinking face) I’ve not got my wallet on me.   
Can I pay you by another means?

Rukia laughed at his message and felt her face redden, she had a few ideas of how he could pay, but considering what they’d already done that day she decided to put them to the side for now. Still, she wanted to keep the chat playful and light.

**Rukia, 19:44pm:** You can pay me with hugs and kisses? (kiss face)

**Toshiro, 19:45pm:** Well now, that all depends. What are you wearing? (crying laughing) I joke, I’ll see you soon beautiful! (kiss face) xxx

Rukia felt like her whole body was levitating off the bed for a few moments, she was unable to wipe the grin from her face as she gazed down at her phone, then she pondered on something. She jumped back into her gallery and went back almost a year to a photoshoot she’d done with the burlesque girls, but this one hadn’t made it onto her social media. It had been one of her favourite images though, she was wearing a Basque with a navy blue front and black back. Tight figure hugging short shorts which made her ass look fantastic as it stuck out a little behind her. She had thigh high socks on, lacy fingerless gloves and a whip across her shoulders, clutched between her hands as she leaned her back against it gazing at the camera over her left shoulder with a black hat on her head.

She smirked down at it, oh yes. This would do.

**Rukia, 19:53pm:** [Sent Image] This is what I am wearing (kiss face)

Rukia waited patiently, watching the writing beside his picture which showed the last time he’d been online. It changed in a second, stating he was back online and the two little ticks turned blue again. There seemed to be a period where he didn’t respond, he went offline again and Rukia felt her heart fall a little but he was back online in an instant like he hadn’t meant to click out of the app.

**Toshiro, 19:54:** (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (heart eyes) That picture is mine now thank you! Along with your underwear!

Rukia shuddered at the possessive thought but would be lying if she said she didn’t totally love the idea of him being possessive with her. She locked her phone and put it back on charge then glanced around the messy girl’s room and winced. She sprung up out of the bed and attempted her best to try and tidy and clean the place. It wasn’t like the athletes got cleaning service so they genuinely had to keep the space tidy themselves and when it was two people as messy as Soi Fon and Rukia that wasn’t very easy. She hid all her dirty washing out of sight in her suitcase and managed to shove a few more things out of sight such as the tampons in the bathroom and a few other girly bits.

The desk was a riot and not one she’d be able to clean anytime soon considering it was full of Soi Fons makeup and the rest of the floor space seemed to be dedicated to something sport related, be it snowboarding equipment or her skates and training clothes.

Eventually giving up and instead plugging her laptop into the television so they could get Netflix she soon heard a knock at the door. It took him a little longer to arrive than she’d been expecting but she’d been grateful for the extra time to clean up. Rukia answered the door to see him grinning down at her, hand leaning against the door frame like he’d been contemplating the coolest way to be revealed behind the door and succeeded.

‘Should I express disappointment?’ Toshiro teased, his grin widening further as his eyes swept over her, ‘that you’re not in the outfit from the picture?’

He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips and Rukia chuckled against him, standing back to break the kiss and also to usher him inside. Toshiro stepped into the room, glancing around curiously and Rukia remembered it was his first time in her room. His wide teal eyes seemed to be taking everything in as if it were the most interesting place in the world.

‘Ah,’ Rukia said glancing around, ‘sorry for the mess, I did attempt to tidy up but when you have two women together…’ she trailed off and he laughed.

‘I stay with Rangiku,’ Toshiro flashed a sexy grin over his shoulder, ‘you don’t have to educate me on the mess women can make believe me.’

Rukia laughed at that and relaxed instantly. He put his bag down on the only free space that didn’t seem to be obstructed, the desk chair and glanced over at the beds.

‘Is that one yours?’ he asked pointing at the bed closest to the window.

‘Yeah, how did you know?’ Rukia glanced at it wondering if she’d left something embarrassing sitting on it.

‘The bedside table has some of the magnum condoms you stole and your phone,’ Toshiro smirked back at her and she rolled her eyes.

‘Okay Sherlock, calm down.’

He laughed at her reply and asked if he was okay to get dressed. She nodded and offered him the bathroom which he declined with a chuckle.

‘You’ve seen me naked a bunch of times before,’ Toshiro rolled his eyes as he took his black t-shirt off and placed it over the back of the chair before reaching down to remove his jeans. ‘Why would I care about you seeing me in my boxers?’

‘I dunno,’ Rukia smirked, ‘maybe if they were those little elf boxers you-’

‘Yeah, yeah, alright,’ he rolled his eyes at her putting his rolled up socks into his bag as he now stood there in nothing but a pair of very tight fitting black boxers. It didn’t seem to bore her at all how many times she’d now seen him naked (or close to it), he still looked delectable. He grinned and made his way over to the bed, crawling across it because there wasn’t enough floor space in the messy room to walk around it. This presented her with a rather stunning view of his ass and just how snug those boxers were before he lay down and opened his arms hopefully in her direction.

Rukia pursed her lips to hide her excited grin but her eyes slid back to his t-shirt which was abandoned on the chair along with his jeans.

‘I’ll just get cleaned up in the bathroom then we can watch some Netflix and order in?’ she asked.

‘That sounds amazing,’ he’d lowered his arms and beamed at her as she walked toward the bathroom, only pausing to pick up his t-shirt. She walked in and closed the door without a glance his way. Rukia got changed as quickly as possible, double and triple checking herself in the mirror and how his shirt hung off her shoulders and showed off just the right amount of leg. She deliberated for a while about leaving her knee high socks on or taking them off before just taking them off and leaving them balled up in the bathroom.

Opening the door, Toshiro’s eyes swept over her as she crawled into bed beside him. His expression was full of longing and the moment she was close to him he pulled her into his arms.

‘Isn’t this uncomfortable?’ Rukia asked embarrassed as he pulled her between his legs so that her back was lying completely against his chest and she was cocooned between his arms and legs.

‘Not unless you decide to dig an elbow in,’ he chuckled but Rukia had never lay like this with a guy before and was apprehensive, apologising for the slightest little movement she made as she used the remote to find something to watch.

‘Do you want to watch that Stranger Things?’ Toshiro asked as they scrolled over it. Rukia made a noise at the back of her throat in response. ‘Rukia?’

‘I don’t like scary things,’ she mumbled and she could feel him shaking with laughter behind her, his arms tightening for a fraction.

‘It’s okay,’ Toshiro breathed right beside her ear, causing her to shudder against him, ‘I’ll protect you.’ It was followed with a kiss to the top of her head that had her melting uselessly against him.

The compromise was that if Rukia could have a cover to hide behind, then they would watch it. Keeping herself hidden behind the cover was easy enough when she was lying between his legs but became so much more complex when food was delivered to their room. She paused the second episode that they’d started and took the entire cover with her to the door causing Toshiro to laugh as she opened it and brought the tray into the room.

The cover and the food did not mix and her heart was just barely coping before they’d discarded the plates and Toshiro had her bundled up against him under the covers again watching the abomination on the television.

The story was great, but why did it have to be scary?

Why did people watch scary things?

Toshiro barely flinched at all but Rukia kept the covers pulled against her face, the feeling of Toshiro’s skin searing against her own through the thin fabric of his shirt. He kept a hand on her at all time, absentmindedly stroking her skin or less absentmindedly grasping her ass during intensely scary scenes causing her to start and hit him.

‘If you do that one more time,’ she threatened as he laughed at her latest outburst, his eyes looking both apologetic and mischievous at the same time.

‘I’m so sorry,’ he chuckled pulling her back into his arms with a massive grin on his face.

‘No you’re not,’ Rukia huffed. He placed a kiss against her forehead as she gave a huge yawn. This time it seemed to be Toshiro’s turn to melt.

‘You’re so cute,’ he laughed and she felt the heat searing across her cheeks again.

‘It was just a yawn…’ she mumbled.

‘Yeah but you wrinkle your nose when you do it,’ he was beaming down at her, those stupid dimples back in place on his face. Rukia huffed indigently and with a laugh he leaned down and kissed her nose which she wrinkled again causing him to laugh once more.

All in all the night was blissful. By the time they started the fourth episode of the show, Rukia was nodding off against his chest. Any apprehension she had about her competition was completely gone, his large arms were wrapped securely around her and it was suddenly hard to think about how anything could be scary.

Toshiro was here, and he would fight anything that frightened her, he’d already promised to do it. Rukia could feel him shuffling below her, aware she was lying across his chest and constricting his movements but was too tired to care. The sound of the television ceased and then there was a click of the lamp being turned off. Toshiro jostled her again carefully before she felt his lips press against her head once more.

‘Sleep well, Beautiful,’ he mumbled against her.

‘I think I’ve got feelings for you,’ she murmured against him, the Gaelic flowing freely and causing him to laugh, likely because he had no idea what she’d just said.

‘Goodnight to you too,’ he kissed her again and she sighed. She’d felt better for saying it out loud just once, even if he didn’t understand it.

It didn’t take long after that before she slumped uselessly against him, sound asleep.

\-----

**@RukiaFansOfficial**   
_(Image Attached) (Image Attached) #RukiShiro is looking more and more likely every day!_

**@Christophe-gc  
** _Guess which of our two favs I saw leaving the Gym together looking really shy and cosy? (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (heart eyes) **#RukiShiro #IreAussie**  
Retweeted by **@RukiaFansOfficial**_

**@IrishLass101  
 _@Christophe-gc_** _OMFG!!!!!!!! PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS REAL!!!!!!!! (heart eyes) (praying hands)_

**@Toshiupdates**   
**_@IrishLass101_ ** _!! IT MUST BE! OH my gosh, #RukiShiro is GO!_

**@RukiasGr8estFan**   
**_@Toshiupdates @Irishlass101_ ** _ALSO SOMEONE SAW TOSHIRO HEADING INTO RUKIA’S HOTEL AND HE’S YET TO LEAVE!!!!!!!!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASEEEEE leave us comments, we LOVE getting them :D and share this fic with anyone you think might be interested! 
> 
> You can keep up to date with what I am working on here: https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord go here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)


	9. It All Comes Crashing Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rukia had taken everyone’s advice and placed her quad right at the beginning of her programme, and she focused on it with all her might, turning her back, left foot gliding on her outside edge. Then her right foot was cutting down into the ice with all the speed and strength she had, launching her into the air. 
> 
> What if she failed and she fell in front of everyone who had come to support her? What if she let her brother down so badly that he left and didn’t want to be her coach ever again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to thank everyone who has been supporting the series so far and leaving us comments :D If you love HitsuRuki as much as Gei and I do, then we've got other stories you can read. 
> 
> Remember to read Toshiro's side, have a look at my profile! That side of the story is written by Geishaaa!

Art by: Ammsterdamn

\-------------------------------------------------

The sunlight streaming across the messy room finally reached Rukia’s eyes. Memories from the evening before came back slowly and as she shifted she realised that something warm was beneath her. A smile spread slowly and softly on her face as her eyes finally opened, one at a time to peer up at his slumbering face. She was sprawled across Toshiro’s chest, her legs entangled with his and his warm chest pillowing her head. She pushed herself up to get a better view of his sleeping face and felt her heart melt uselessly in her chest.

Toshiro was breathing deep and easy, a ghost of a smile still present on his face from whatever sweet dreams he’d been having. His white hair pillowed his head and fanned out in an organised mess across the fabric and his lashes fluttered as he shifted. His head was turned toward her but as Rukia leaned to the side she could see the vast expanse of deliciously exposed throat. It was just far too tempting to ignore. She leaned forward and placed one very delicate and chaste kiss onto the skin of his throat, then another, then another.

It took a fair few kisses before Toshiro made a noise that signified his wakefulness, a soft hum at the back of his throat before he tilted his head to give her more access. She felt his arms tighten around her, keeping her body pressed closed against his.

‘Good morning, Handsome,’ she mumbled against his skin in between the kisses she was planting on his neck.

‘Best morning of my life,’ he replied after another little hum of content. His voice was low and husky with sleep, his accent coming out thicker as a result which caused her to melt.

Rukia pushed herself further up his body, noticing the grin on his face, his eyes were closed but that adorable little dimple was winking at her again. With a smile of her own she leaned over and placed a kiss on it. When she pulled back, he’d grinned even wider and this time she caught the side of his mouth in a kiss, causing him to turn his head and capture her lips.

Toshiro’s taste was still so familiar to her, even the scent of him filling her nose. Rukia had never ever slept over with a guy before and never had the urge to try it with anyone. She was glad she’d saved it for Toshiro. His taste was like a home away from home, it flooded her senses.

The peck was quick before she pulled back, watching his eyes flicker open. Deep teal irises adjusted to the light coming in through the curtains. He stared at her, the same smile on his face, and he reached up with a hand his fingers sliding up the side of her face and his thumb grazing her cheek.

‘Good morning, Beautiful,’ he murmured his voice sounding a little more put together, ‘how are you feeling about today?’

Rukia groaned at the thought. She’d not really wanted to think about her free skate at all that morning, or ever really. She just wanted to shut herself up in her hotel room, with him and entwine their bodies so deeply they became the same person. If she had it her way she’d never ever leave the hotel room and that was a terrifying thought because it wasn’t like her.

Rukia felt her own surprise as she contemplated how best to answer him, her priorities seemed to have shifted since she’d come to the Olympics. What was once beaming confidence was now shackled and replaced with doubt and a passion for more than a medal.

Alas, she contemplated her career and realised with a small stab that she still wanted her name to go down in the history books somewhere for her sport.

‘I-I’m not sure,’ Rukia finally settled on the truth, looking down and shrugging at the same time, ‘I’ve always been so sure, and suddenly I’m just… _not_.’

There was no point in hiding anything from him. He knew more about her than she’d admitted to anyone except Gin. She released a breath she’d been holding, still not looking him in the eyes and felt his hand rubbing the lower part of her back.

‘You’ve made a decision, there’s no turning back now so you’ve just got to roll with it,’ Toshiro told her, ‘You gotta go all in, don’t do anything by halves.’

His charming accent broke the ice that shimmered over the morning, making her feel warmer inside. It wasn’t quite the comforting words that Gin would have selected for her, but Toshiro was clearly trying to keep her focused. This had been a decision she’d made after all.

‘Are you saying I should skate my new routine “wholeheartedly”?’ Rukia asked with a fond smirk.

‘Exactly,’ he nodded, grinning at her. Rukia smiled for a moment before looking down, her smile slipping off her face.

‘Do you think I’ll land the quad?’ she glanced back up at him. Rukia was asking from one competitor to the next now. She really wanted to know his thoughts on it considering he’d now seen her land it twice with his own eyes.

‘I do,’ Toshiro replied sounding confident.

‘What if I don’t though?’ Rukia said. She knew what it meant for her, that her name wouldn’t be appearing in the history books, that her brother would likely disown her, but she wanted to know what Toshiro’s reaction would be.

‘I’ll still be really proud of you for giving it a go,’ he replied, ‘everyone will be, including your brother.’

Rukia tried not to scoff at that. She knew her brother better than anyone and she knew that going out of her way to do this whole routine behind his back would be the biggest blow ever to Byakuya’s ego.

‘And there’s always Worlds for you to try it again, the Olympics isn’t the be-all and end-all.’ Toshiro reminded her.

Rukia was thoughtful for a moment at the reminder. It was true she would still have another competition to try it in if she could convince her brother to keep going. Rukia gave a nod of her head. His words had elevated the tightening in her chest and relaxed her.

‘I suppose you’re right,’ she murmured.

‘I am,’ he poked her in her abdomen, causing her to jerk away from the ticklish spot that he knew so well, ‘I’m really smart.’

Rukia scoffed and rolled her eyes.

‘Didn’t know how to do your own laundry, but sure,’ she replied her voice thick with humour, ‘you’re a real genius.’

Toshiro laughed at her joke, ‘am I ever going to live that down?’

‘Afraid not,’ Rukia retorted with a smirk and a shake of her head.

‘As long as you’re the one teasing me,’ he smirked back, ‘I suppose that’s okay.’

Rukia stared at him, not wanting to read too much into that. Women had this awful habit of over thinking things and perceiving feelings and emotions where there were none. All Toshiro likely meant by the statement was that he was okay with her teasing him, which was good because by nature that was how she expressed her feelings.

Rukia reached up to his hand that was cupping her face and held it in place as she turned to kiss his palm. When she glanced back at him he was smiling broadly, then reached up to place his own tender kiss on her forehead. Rukia hummed, feeling a flush of satisfaction in her cheeks. If all she had to do to receive affectionate kisses from him was to kiss him affectionately first, then she could happily stay in this room with him for a few more hours.

Toshiro leaned back and smiled at her, the little dimples popping back into life again on his face. Rukia grinned as she reached out and prodded his left dimple with her finger.

‘It’s so squishy,’ her voice thick with mirth, ‘I’m gonna call it “Mr. Squish”.’

‘You sound like Dory from Finding Nemo,’ Toshiro chuckled his face turning away from her in a bid to get away from her prodding finger. Rukia was glad he was taking it in humour and not thinking that she was calling him fat. Though his cheeks were chubby, there wasn’t an ounce of fat anywhere else on his body.

With a stab she realised she’d love to see his baby photos, assuming him to have been born with large round chubby cheeks.

‘I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy.’

Toshiro laughed loudly at her and she giggled at his reaction. The sound was euphoric and she could easily wake up like this every day for the rest of her life, his dimples, his smile, his sexy Australian accent, his affection.

Rukia pecked his cheek once more then she lay back down against his chest, nuzzling her head under his chin and felt his arms tighten around her and squeeze.

‘You’re so affectionate in the morning.’ He commented, his hands slipping under the only fabric she wore and stroking the skin of her back.

It was the first time she’d ever been called affectionate by someone besides Gin. Rukia would be oddly affectionate with her best friend but she’d never had reason to be with anyone else before. Her fingers absently stroked patterns into his shoulder as she took in this new-found knowledge of herself. Rukia enjoyed being affectionate with him, but she’d never ever thought she’d be an affectionate person toward a partner.

An odd domesticated feeling flooded through her and causing her mind to flit back to the image of Toshiro in her apartment and how lovely it would be having him in her life.

She was disturbed from her daydream by his chuckle.

‘What’s so funny?’ Rukia asked, squirming around and propping herself up onto an elbow to see his face.

‘Just remembering this,’ Toshiro smirked and she felt the covers shift before his hand made contact with her bare ass causing her to yelp in surprise.

‘When you were fucking me into a wall at the gym,’ she asked, trying to keep the chagrin from her voice, ‘or when you were scaring the life out of me during Stranger Things?’

‘Both,’ Toshiro laughed, and he smacked her ass again, this time his fingers splaying over the skin and grasping it immediately afterward. Rukia had been more prepared for it this time and instead let the sensation tingle up and down her body. Images from the shower the day before flooded back and caused her body to heat at the reminder. Rukia slipped away from him, pushing herself up so she was straddling him on the bed, the cover fell away and her eyes raked over his naked torso. From this position she could feel his hard dick directly under her.

‘You’re hard,’ she stated simply.

‘Its morning,’ Toshiro pointed out and she smirked at him. She had heard tales of morning wood of course but had never really stuck around long enough to witness it in any of her previous conquests. Gin was very good at hiding it, she rarely ever noticed his and when she did, she’d politely ignore it. ‘And I’ve woken up to a stunning woman. Can you blame me?’

Rukia felt a blush join her smirk on her face, but she held his gaze and rocked slowly over his erection watching his eyes darkened.

‘So what are you going to do about it?’ Rukia asked, her voice low, teasing him.

Toshiro pushed himself up onto his elbows, his dark teal eyes fixed on her and his grey tinged eyebrow rising.

‘You really want to do this now? You don’t want to rest and relax before your performance today?’

How little he seemed to know her.

‘This is how I relax, remember?’ she reminded him, rocking again on him and this time Toshiro couldn’t supress his reaction. His jaw tightened, his eyes darkening still further, and Rukia smirked in triumph.

There was little in the way of fabric between them, only his shirt that she’d thrown on to sleep in and of course his boxers which were currently straining against her. Rukia wanted this. She needed to blow off some steam and what better way to do it than with him? Rukia continued to grind herself against him watching him intently. Eventually he seemed to decide and pushed himself up into a sitting position, his arms wrapping around Rukia’s waist.

When his lips found hers, it was slow and gentle, his hands slipping under her shirt to rub across the skin of her back. His gentleness was in stark contrast to the sex they’d had the day before, causing Rukia to shudder at the reminder. She’d never even given thought to the fact she could have multiple different sexual experiences with one person. Rukia had always just assumed once you’d slept with someone once that was it, the thrill was over.

She realised now how wrong she was.

Toshiro didn’t make any move to speed the kiss up. It was just as gentle as his touch on her skin was. Rukia took her time to taste him, to absorb the unspoken words that seemed to stretch like a mile before them. Words she would speak to him about after her free skate that day and either bring to light something new and exciting or put an end to something that was clearly never meant to be.

To distract herself from the darker thoughts of rejection she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and slipped a hand up into his hair, tugging it to try and spur him on. Toshiro gasped into her mouth and at the same time she ground herself down on the thick hard member hidden out of sight below her.

Toshiro wasn’t having any of it. His hands moved from where they’d been gently stroking her skin to locking her hips in place, his grasp too strong she couldn’t struggle against him. Rukia continued to speed things along though, tugging on his hair and fighting him for control of the kiss. Toshiro didn’t comply, he kept up the same somewhat lazy lip movements and it soon had Rukia groaning in frustration.

‘Are you going to fuck me today or next week?’ she groaned, finally pulling away from him and listening to his amused chuckle.

‘Today,’ he murmured back to her, ‘if you stop interrupting.’

Rukia huffed at him which only caused a sexy smirk to appear on his face. He leaned forward again and this time his lips latched onto her jaw where he started a line of slow chaste kisses along the bone toward her ear.

‘You’re sure going the slowest way about it,’ she tried to keep the frustration from her voice but she didn’t do a very good job.

‘Relax, Beautiful,’ Toshiro whispered, his throaty low accent grazing her ear. He nibbled on her earlobe for a moment, ‘let me look after you.’

Rukia inhaled sharply, his teeth on her earlobe a new experience. It sent a small shiver down her spine and she closed her eyes, tilting her head back as hips lips began to move down her neck. He reached a notably sensitive part of her neck and spent a little more time there causing a contented sigh to slip passed her lips. Toshiro spent a little bit of time in the place he knew she liked but did not bite or suck hard enough to leave any marks like he had done before. Instead he turned his attention downward toward her collarbone where he had to pull back the neck of his own shirt to reach them, placing a few kisses.

Toshiro then took the time to map back up her skin on the other side of her neck as she shuddered against him, his name ready to fall from her lips, but she barely resisted. Then he revisited an old mark he’d left on her neck, very close to a zone she loved and with a slight tilt of her head his lips found it and she groaned.

Rukia tried to grind back down on him, getting a little desperate now, but he kept her still in place.

‘Toshiro,’ her voice came out breathless and his lips were on hers immediately like he couldn’t resist her calling his name in such a fashion. The kiss was still slow just like the others had been but deep. Their tongues taking time to properly appreciate each other’s taste and one of Toshiro’s hands wrapped around her waist keeping her in place while the other slipped up her front under his shirt and cupped her breast.

She hummed encouragingly into his mouth, but his fingers did not quite reach their mark. Rukia waited patiently for him to massage her breasts, use his thumb on her nipple but no such motion came, instead his hand simply held her, his thumb stroking the skin that was not her nipple. Before Rukia could stop herself she’d arched into him, getting impatient of his teasing and when he continued she removed her arms in an attempt to get the shirt off, hoping that maybe the sight of her naked torso would encourage him to move things along.

Toshiro broke the kiss though, his hand slipping out from where it had been uselessly cupping her breast to capture her hands and stop her.

‘No, it stays on,’ he said in a very firm tone.

‘You can’t fuck me with my clothes on,’ she reminded him. Rukia was getting déjà vu of when she’d said this exact same thing to him in the shower the day before.

‘You’re not wearing any underwear,’ Toshiro’s voice was thick and low, ‘I think you’ll find that’s all we really need.’

Rukia peered into his dark teal eyes, she could see a million emotions swimming in them but she didn’t find anything that helped her understand why he was toying with her.

‘You want to fuck me while I’m wearing an oversized t-shirt?’ she raised an eyebrow at him, ‘I’d have thought you’d prefer me naked?’

‘You’re wearing _my_ shirt,’ Toshiro shrugged but his eyes quickly scanned her body, like he loved the sight of her in it and wanted to commit the scene to memory. ‘I love the sight of that,’ he said confirming her suspicions.

‘It stays on,’ he repeated and this time when his hand slipped back under the fabric he located her nipple and began to abuse it between his thumb and forefinger. Rukia arched into him once more, her head lolling to the side and he wasted no time in taking full advantage of her exposed neck. His lips sucked and his teeth grazed her flesh softly and it took all of Rukia’s self-control not to grind down on him again.

Toshiro’s mouth found the sensitive spot on her neck again while his fingers continued to abuse her nipple and yet he was still going _so slow._ She was thirty seconds away from snapping and trying to regain the dominance back when their positions changed. Toshiro twisted his body, his arm around her waist forcing her to go with him and she found herself lying on the bed beside him. Rukia’s hope that this meant he was going to end up on top of her was dashed when the annoyingly attractive snowboarder remained at her side.

He seemed to find her frustration amusing as he leaned over to capture her lips, Rukia’s hand cupped his face, her tongue attempting to deepen the kiss but Toshiro kept the same lazy pace as he had before, not taking the bait. Toshiro’s free arm slid back under the shirt again and began to abuse her other nipple, his other arm keeping himself propped up beside her on the bed. She sighed in frustration, his teasing was causing her physical pain now and she wanted nothing more than to grab him and shake him.

‘Toshiro,’ Rukia said softly, her voice with a bite of warning.

‘Haven’t you ever had slow sex before?’ Toshiro asked, his lips finding her neck again.

That sounded like the worst thing ever.

‘No,’ she said curtly, hoping he’d understand that she wasn’t really interested in his idea of lazy sex. She wanted to get the show on the road. His casual touches had done nothing more than set her blood on fire and now she had an itch she needed scratched.

Before she could formulate a plan that involved switching their positions and riding him, Toshiro pulled back away from her neck, his whole face hovering over hers, eyes locked.

‘Do you trust me?’ he whispered, his voice full of uncertainty and Rukia knew why. The last time he’d asked her this question she’d given him a very blunt “no”. His large teal eyes stared down at her full of hope but even she could see the doubt floating there. Rukia searched herself, searched her feelings and found to her surprise that she did trust him… she trusted him the moment she stepped on his snowboard, she trusted him the moment she asked him to spend the night, when she wrapped her arms around him, when she wrote her number on his arm.

‘Yes’ Rukia breathed and he must have seen the certainty in her gaze, for he ducked down and captured her lips again. This kiss was a little more forceful than his last, his gratitude and relief seemed to flow through her and she knew that he was about to get the show on the road. When Toshiro pulled back he pushed the fabric of his shirt up over her breasts, exposing them to the cool hotel room air. Toshiro’s lips detached from hers and he sunk lower, his face disappearing from view as he hovered close to her, she bit her lip as she finally felt his make contact with her left nipple. His teeth caught it and his tongue began to abuse it while his other hand began to play with the nipple on the other side.

Rukia hadn’t realised that she’d put a hand in his hair, not having been completely aware of her movements. With a hiss she let her head fall back against the pillow and resound herself to just feeling him.

Her hips moved of their own accord, the pleasure running up and down her spine causing a heated flow between her legs. She wanted nothing more than to feel him pressing in, to feel the thickness of his shaft as it sunk into her, to hear his ragged breaths against her ear. Rukia was growing impatient that she wasn’t in control of any of it or how quickly it would happen.

As if sensing her growing impatience though his hand began to wander, and she felt relief flood her, impatience ebbing until he started to simply stroke down her skin. His hand grasped her ass for a moment before dropping to trail up and down her thigh.

_For fuck sake._

With a whimper of impatience at his teasing, Toshiro chuckled and his fingers finally found their mark, his thumb locating her clit with practiced ease. The feeling coupled with the continued wet lapping around her nipple had her arching off the bed, her nails digging into his back. Toshiro’s mouth found her other breast and his index finger finally slipped inside her.

‘Finally,’ she breathed sarcastically and felt his smile against her skin. Rukia took a mental note that one day she’d have to repay him for this… then realised there’d already been plenty of times she’d teased him, like the moments after they had exited the hot top, and appreciated that maybe he was in his right to get his revenge even if she wasn’t partial to it.

Thankfully Toshiro didn’t wait too long between inserting one finger before he inserted the second. Rukia moaned against the feeling, the fingers a poor replacement for what she wanted but understanding (barely) that it would make the feeling better when he finally did enter her. Curling his fingers, he was soon massaging along the top part of her walls and her nails which had been digging into his back dug in a little deeper.

‘F-fuck,’ she panted. Toshiro pulled away from her breasts and he pushed himself back up the bed on his other arm, his lips finding her neck again and abusing it nice and slow.

‘T-Toshiro,’ she groaned, knowing that calling his name breathlessly was likely to help in her wish to speed things along, ‘three fingers. N-now.’

Thankfully he didn’t hesitate, he pulled his two fingers out of her and inserted three back inside, but his pace as he did so had her squirming wanting to thrust herself down onto his fingers. He chuckled and leaned up to capture her lips in another slow kiss.

Rukia was getting fucking annoyed now, she gave a sharp tug on his snowy white locks in a bid to make him go faster but all that did was cause Toshiro to growl. He pulled his fingers out of her and sat up, his hand capturing her arms and pinning them above her head on the bed.

A new wave of arousal snaked down Rukia’s spine as she realised just how much _stronger_ than her he was. His bulging muscles in his arm popping as he held her in place and his eyes held her gaze, she knew she couldn’t escape his grasp. Rukia squirmed, testing his restraints and they held firm, making her shudder.

Toshiro’s fingers reinserted themselves back inside her and she gasped at their reunion, he was stretching her with the same speed as before and soon her lips were parted as her breaths came to her quicker and shallower.

‘I’m r-ready,’ she gasped, feeling his thumb as it flicked back over her clit, ‘C-cock. Now.’

A look crossed his face like he was enjoying the sight before him, but even Rukia could easily see the hard outline of his dick straining against his boxers, waiting to be freed. It couldn’t be comfortable for him even if he were better practiced in this drawn out foreplay than she was. Toshiro seemed to debate something for a moment before he finally made a decision. It seemed that lust won out because soon he had removed his fingers and reached for one of the condoms she had sitting out and waiting on her bedside table. Instead of opening it himself though, his other hand seemed to refuse to let her go, he brought the wrapper close to her mouth making a biting gesture with his own teeth.

Rukia debated not following his orders, wanting to be just as awkward and annoying as he’d been this entire morning and prolonging his pleasure as he’d been doing to her… but after a few moments she relented, wanting him inside her too much. She leaned forward a little capturing the corner of the condom wrapper between her teeth and he grinned as he tore the package back and pulled it away as it opened. Toshiro leaned forward and kissed her forehead, she felt the gentle brush of his lips and only just resisted huffing out her impatience again as his other hands seemed to be pushing his boxers down and rolling the condom on.

His hands left hers to reach over and grab one of the lube sachets and this one he tore open himself and applied. Then Toshiro was pushing his boxers all the way down and off before crawling back up over her. Rukia already knew what he’d be looking for next and as he glanced up, she met his gaze. His eyes softened and he leaned forward his hand cupping her cheek and his lips gently capturing hers for a second before he pulled back to continue watching her. His teal gaze held intensity to them that she was sure she’d never seen on his face before. That didn’t mean it wasn’t a look he gave the other women he’d been with. Rukia swallowed as his fingers brushed strands of her sweaty fringe from her face, then he was pushing in.

Rukia felt that familiar feeling of him filling her up, stretching her walls further than his fingers had stretched but there was no pain at all this time, like her body had gotten entirely used to his size and was welcoming it home rather than trying to grow accustomed to it. Rukia swallowed thickly at the thought and tried to shove back thoughts of what would happen if it was another man pushing into her and if her body would just outright reject them?

Like an eject button.

Rukia bit her lip to stop the amused smile breaking across her face, her back arching at the feeling as he continued to push slowly inside her. Toshiro’s eyes still held hers, and soon she felt the other familiar feel of his body against her as he was fully sheathed inside.

Toshiro’s face was relaxed, like his brain wasn’t overthinking anything, the slight upturn to his lips telling her that he was exactly where he wanted to be in this moment and she felt the flush of arousal climb back up over her face when he finally began to thrust.

Unlike the animalistic sex they’d had in the shower the day before, his thrusts were long, slow and measured. Their gaze remained intact except for the occasional kiss. When he did lean in for a kiss Rukia got the overwhelming feeling of him all around her, his scent, the feel of his body pressing down against hers and moving with hers and the sound of his raspy breaths as they broke apart for air.

Rukia soon groaned into his mouth as his thrusts became a little faster and harder, enough to have her moving up the bed a little bit at a time. Soon he had pulled back and was hitching her leg up over his hip, without even thinking she mirrored the movement with her other leg, locking them in place behind his back. He pushed away from her, holding her gaze and she could feel the throbbing pleasure up and down her spine but knew it just wouldn’t be enough to bring her to orgasm.

‘Y-you’re so beautiful,’ he told her, his voice thick with that sexy Australian accent. The sound of his voice just made things so much hotter.

‘F-fuck,’ she gasped, ‘f-faster.’

‘No,’ he shook his head in response, ‘I w-want you to f-feel it all. F-feel _me.’_ Rukia felt herself flush at his words and she tried, she tried to focus on the feeling of him but all she could feel was the slide of the condom and lube, the feeling of him lost in the connection. She wondered again what it would feel like to have him fucking her like this without the barrier between them, how the two would be bear and raw. The thought turned her on more than she had thought and she continued to focus on that feeling, the feeling of the two of them completely naked and entwined with no barrier.

Toshiro continued his thrusts long and deep and she could tell from the sweat and glide of his body that he was very close. Rukia pushed the thoughts of her own complaints to the back of her head, stopped focusing on the slowness of the sex and instead focused on how he’d began to speed up, the intensity of his gaze, like he was trying to telepathically communicate with her.

Toshiro lowered himself onto elbow supporting his weight and she soon felt two fingers lock on either side of her clit and began to abuse it with short quick movements.

Rukia moaned, arching into him and feeling the press of his chest on hers.

‘F-fuck, Toshiro!’ she gasped and soon his lips were back on hers. The kiss was hot and heavy but he didn’t let it continue too long, he knew she was close. Rukia could feel the heat building and knew she was nearly there, with his fingers on her clit she didn’t stand a chance and Toshiro soon had his eyes locked back on hers.

‘F-fuck, far out,’ and that sexy Australian accent threw her over the edge. She didn’t hear what else he’d said or what he’d been about to say because she cried out.

‘ _Toshiro!_ ’ she moaned into the room, her eyes closing over and her head falling back as her walls clamped tightly around him in powerful waves. Having enough sense to gip his hair tightly though she gave it a sharp tug and opened her own eyes in time to watch as a glazed look crossed his face, a long groan spilled from his lips and he gave a final thrust before his body went rigid.

The second seemed to stretch before he collapsed on top of her, his elbows stopped him crushing her entirely with his own body weight but she could still feel him pressing down. They took a few moments, panting into the room and Rukia had to admit that the slow sex hadn’t been as terrible as she thought it would be.

It had certainly given her a lot of time to think and digest him and her feelings. The downside to that was of course she liked him more now. Rukia wanted to know all the different ways that Toshiro could have sex with her, make her feel special, locate parts of her body she didn’t know she enjoyed and that she could explore on him too.

She didn’t want this to end.

‘I didn’t expect that,’ she said, her voice breaking her thoughts, ‘slow sex being that good, I mean.’

‘I’m glad I could show you,’ Toshiro mumbled, and she threaded her fingers, which had tugged at his hair harshly, back through it. Her nails scratching against his scalp pulling a hum of content from his lips.

‘Me too,’ she said it rather absently, not even being aware of her words and with a sleepy groan Toshiro pulled out of her and rolled onto his back pulling her with him. Rukia nuzzled up against him, her head on his chest and he pulled her close with his arm wrapped around her.

She knew she’d have to get up soon, she had an Olympic final to attend too, but the thought of leaving the bed, leaving _him_ settled in her chest so uncomfortably. If their conversation post-Olympic final didn’t go according to plan then this could be the very last time she lay here in his arms and that was a daunting thought.

Rukia suddenly didn’t know what she was more scared of, losing out on the podium, losing out on her jump or losing him.

The time came sooner than she’d hoped where her alarm sounded and it was time to go. Toshiro had kept her bundled in his arms, both of them refusing to move from the bed despite their sweaty entangled bodies or the fact he’d still not disposed of the condom yet.

‘It’s time,’ Toshiro said, his arms around her giving a weird twitch like he was fighting between letting her go and keeping her held against his chest.

‘Yeah,’ Rukia sighed and placed her forehead against his chest, feeling the thrum of his heart under his skin. She counted his beats for a while, letting them ground her before she pushed herself up. Toshiro rose with her, his lips finding her forehead the moment it was gone from his chest.

‘Come on,’ he smiled against her skin, ‘we’ve got a jump to make.’

Rukia laughed against him, it was odd how much those words affected her. Like it wasn’t just her who would be making the jump, like he was going to be there with her. As she slipped from the bed, his t shirt still clinging to her body, she felt a new strength enter her. Moving around seemed to give her just as much focus as his words and the two of them dove in for a quick shower, saving time by showering together.

The shower served to revive Rukia just as much as the sex had. Toshiro was attentive and offered her sly kisses when she attempted to wash herself. Confidence blossomed in her stomach, she was beginning to think that maybe he returned her feelings and maybe there would be no rejection to suffer through after her free skate once she worked up the courage to have… _the chat._

‘Can I keep this?’ Rukia asked holding his shirt between her fingers and glancing up at him as he pulled his jeans on. Toshiro’s teal eyes met hers for a moment and a smile blossomed on his face as his eyes fell to the shirt clutched in her fingers.

‘Sure, it’s yours,’ he chuckled, ‘besides I have a pair of your panties so think it’s only fair you have something of mine.’

His words felt loaded, like there were more meaning behind them but if there were, he didn’t explain as he pulled a fresh t-shirt out of his overnight bag and pulled it on. Rukia folded the gifted shirt carefully and put it down on her bed. Depending on how the day would go, they could both end up coming back here to spend the night again… assuming that Soi Fon would let her.

Toshiro fussed over her and her lack of appetite until she agreed to eat a protein bar and drink a smoothie just to calm him down.

‘I’m not nagging,’ he said nagging-ly, his eyes trained in on the bar as she finished it off like he didn’t fully believe she’d eat it all.

‘You sound like you are,’ Rukia rolled her eyes and made to deposit the rest of the smoothie in the bin as they walked over to the rink together. Toshiro caught it though and started to finish it himself which made her smile up at him.

‘What?’ he raised an eye brow at her in question, but she just grinned wider and shook her head. It felt like the two of them were already a couple.

Byakuya was waiting for her beside the security at the athlete’s entrance to the rink. The moment her eyes found his she felt her whole body go rigid. Toshiro’s warm hand was on her lower back in a second, rubbing a warm circle into the muscle and trying to get her to loosen back up again.

‘Can’t make the jump if you’ve turned to stone,’ he mumbled in her ear, causing her to chuckle. ‘Try not to think about him, try not to think about anyone except the people who can make you fly. You’re going to land this jump Rukia and we’ll all be there rooting for you.’

‘Thank you,’ she breathed and turned to him, his teal eyes were sparkling in the wintery sunlight, the colour almost translucent on his white hair. ‘I’ll see you after?’ Rukia asked. Toshiro smirked at her.

‘Of course, you will,’ he ducked down and met her lips in a small peck, aware they were both standing outside. He drew back and they eyed each other, wanting to lock lips a little longer but unwilling to give anyone else a chance to pull a phone or camera out. ‘Look out for me in the stands.’ He grinned as he started to walk away, pausing to now put the empty smoothie cup in the bin.

His last few words were said with some kind of jubilant excitement and Rukia blinked dumbly after him for a few moments trying to work out what the heck that tone could possibly mean when her brother’s voice called out to her.

With a sigh, Rukia pulled her bag further up her back like it would help shield her and walked forward to meet her brother.

Byakuya looked awful.

She faltered in her step for a moment her eyes on his face before she continued to walk. The dark rings under his eyes looked worse and now his face had a pale, almost greyish tinge to his skin.

‘You don’t look well,’ Rukia said to him instead of a greeting, but her tone was full of concern that had his dark brows pulling together.

‘Never you mind me,’ he snapped and Rukia winced at his tone, ‘you’ve got something more important to be focusing on today.’

‘You’d tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?’ she asked him firmly.

‘I would if something was, but nothing is so can you please focus,’ Byakuya held the door open to the women’s changing area and nodded her inside. Rukia looked up into his eyes defiantly, ready to press and argue her point but the fierce look on his face told her that this wasn’t the time. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she moved into the women’s changing space to get ready. Perhaps the sex that morning had made her more compliant than usual.

‘Rukia-chan,’ Isane called, her face a little pale but her grin wide as she waved her over. Rukia pulled her bag further up her shoulder and wove in and out through the throng of other skaters, coaches and concerned family members towards the tall Japanese woman. Sitting on one of the benches, Isane was almost at eye level with Rukia.

‘Are you ready?’ Rukia asked, her own voice tinged with a nervous excitement.

‘No,’ Isane replied with a chuckle, ‘but I suppose I better be.’

The two helped each other get ready, then collected their mats and skates and proceeded to find a quiet space in one of the many back rooms where they could stretch away from the general fuss of the other competitors.

The small talk flared and tapered off, Isane seemed to be aware of Rukia’s nervous energy for once but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead it seemed to ground the taller Japanese woman, making her appear a lot calmer.

‘I checked the RukiShiro hashtag this morning,’ she said and Rukia could hear the smile in her voice. Thankfully Byakuya wasn’t around, he’d gone off to find out the scheduling and all the other important coach related tasks while she got herself prepared mentally.

‘Oh?’ Rukia pretended to only be partly listening.

‘Apparently I read somewhere that he’d walked into your hotel last night and wasn’t seen emerging from it until this morning. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?’

‘Not a thing,’ Rukia said it with a smirk on her face, her eyes focused on a mark against the pale paint of the wall as she stretched.

‘They really do love you two, I can’t believe how many followers you’ve both gained from each other.’

‘You really are a stalker,’ Rukia teased her with a laugh causing a blush to dust the taller woman’s cheeks.

‘Not a stalker,’ Isane said defensively, ‘just really invested in the personal life of one of my best friends.’

At those words Rukia smiled sheepishly at her and the two shared a second before the moment was broken with the sound of feet approaching.

‘I have the schedule information here,’ came the voice of Miyako.

‘Where’s Byakuya?’ Rukia asked glancing around for her own coach as Miyako handed her a sheet with scheduling information on it.

‘He had to take a call,’ the words were stiff, like there was more behind them. Rukia frowned and reached down to her own phone but the Japanese coach quickly took it from her hands.

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea Rukia,’ she said firmly, ‘you too Isane, give me your phone.’

‘Why?’ the tall Japanese woman looked affronted but handed it over all the same. Rukia felt like she was missing something, like she was being kept in the dark about something important and she didn’t like it.

‘It’s not good for either of you to read the comments flying around online right now. The Russians are trying to psych everyone out and the posts on social media aren’t friendly. Just stay focused, you can get your phones back immediately after your performances I promise.’ Miyako said firmly, she had the look of a kind woman but in that moment there was something more fierce and protective in her stance. Rukia didn’t miss the way her eyes kept ghosting back to her though and it set a ball of nerves in her.

‘No one is hurt are they?’ she asked suddenly, ‘everyone is okay?’

‘Yes,’ Miyako deflated, ‘no one is hurt it’s nothing like that. It’s just that the comments.’ She shook her head.

‘Alright,’ Rukia relaxed, if it were just words, she could handle those.

It took a while for the two girls to settle back into a routine but Miyako kept watchful eyes on them and kept them posted on the competition. They’d made the decision not to watch the other performances, only each other’s. It would help keep the mind focused but it felt like the time flew in and soon Miyako was calling for Isane to get ready.

The Japanese woman’s hands shook as she laced her skates and Rukia helped her stand, like she’d just put them on for the very first time.

‘You’ve got this,’ Rukia said hugging her friend firmly. She could feel Isane shaking and Miyako led her through towards the arena. Rukia walked with her friend and let her step out onto the ice before finding a place where she was hidden from view of everyone else but could watch.

Isane’s name was soon being called and she skated out into the middle of the ice. Rukia could feel her own nerves bubbling for her friend as her music started and she began to skate. This routine was a little more complex than the one she’d done in her heats. After watching her perform it during their private practice, Rukia and Miyako had discussed with Isane the possibility of trying to attempt the triple axel, a jump so few women could do but Isane could get the height and had landed it consistently in practice recently.

They’d strategically placed the triple axel after her first jump, hoping that the ease of a familiar jump would give her the confidence she needed to land the slightly more complex one. Isane took off into the triple toe loop and landed it clean, turning around and setting her sights on the more complex jump. She launched herself into the air and Rukia felt her body give a little twitch as if she wanted to jump it with her but Isane’s blades caught the ice in a smooth motion, her free leg swinging cleanly free and there was an eruption of applause from the audience.

Rukia clapped frantically for her friend, her eyes so focused that she missed the boring stares of people around the arena who seemed to have just spotted her standing there. She could hear whispering above from the stands and even heard the familiar click of a camera lens, but she just tugged the sleeves of her Irish jacket nervously and continued to study her friends form.

Isane was enjoying her performance, where a look of pure concentration had been before there was now a beaming smile. With the relaxation came more fluid movements and Rukia could already tell as the woman entered into the second half of her routine that this would be one of the best scores of her career.

‘Come on,’ Rukia kept repeating the words under her breath, her friend’s exhaustion becoming more evident the closer they got to the finale. Isane launched herself into her final triple, double combination before finishing with a combination spin and Rukia erupted into applause with the rest of the arena as plushies and flowers rained down onto the ice. Isane beamed up at the audience and bowed to each side of the stand in turn before sweeping off the ice in the direction of the kiss and cry to retrieve her scores.

Rukia’s eyes switched the large televisions that were above the ice since she’d now lost sight of her friend in amongst all the official Olympic staff. She took a couple more steps out to see the television screens better and waited with baited breath as she saw her friend bowing kindly to the audience in a bid to expel her anxious energy before sitting down for her scores. Miyako was gripping her hand tightly and it took a few moments before her score appeared on screen.

A new season best; 145.25 and a combined total of 221.34 flashed on the screen before Isane’s name was rocketed into the first place slot. Rukia shouted and cheered from the side-lines, ignoring the amused look of the staff close by the ice exit before the camera cut back to the ice where Hiyori had taken up her position. Rukia ignored the screen, her eyes scanning the sea of dark blue uniforms before her friend’s white Japanese jacket caught her eye and she threw herself into Isane’s arms.

‘You did amazing,’ she called into the fabric shoulder of her ridiculously tall friend, ‘that’s a podium spot for sure.’

‘I’m not so sure,’ Isane said with a glance behind her at where Hiyori had now taken her place in the centre of the ice.

She didn’t sound at all worried though, and as Rukia studied her face as they made their way back through to their private area, she could see the relaxed features. Isane was just proud to have come and done the best she could possibly do at the Olympics to make her country proud. There was probably no one as deserving of a medal than the kind Japanese woman.

‘Now we need to focus on you,’ she said and Rukia nodded, feeling the nerves twisting uncomfortably in her stomach.

Isane helped Rukia stretch until the last possible moment when Miyako called for Rukia to get ready.

‘Where is Byakuya?’ she asked, now starting to stress at the lack of sight from her coach.

‘He’s not back from his call ye-’

‘Yes I am,’ Byakuya came quickly through the corridor looking harassed, his hair out of place and his breathing ragged. His eyes looked swollen and his nose red, like he’d either been crying or standing outside in the cold air too long. Rukia opened her mouth to question him, but the look he shot her told her that this wasn’t the time.

‘”You’re late,”’ she huffed instead and watched his shoulders relax a little as she pestered him with his favourite reprimand he always used on her.

‘Forgive me,’ Byakuya stepped forward and picked up her water bottle and tissue holder before accompanying her outside to the rink edge. Rukia had time to glance at the scores and see that Isane had been knocked out of first place by Hiyori who had managed to achieve a combined total of 228.98. After already beating her out in the short programme there was a very strong possibility that Rukia might not even medal at all here. She knew that this unpolished routine could only get her so many points and prayed that the judges were feeling generous about rewarding recklessness today.

Stepping out onto the ice brought back a small sense of normality as she skated around to face Byakuya, but his face was not the only face there for her. Miyako and Isane were standing resolutely beside him, both of them determined to watch her succeed just as much as the man who looked so worn out, he’d likely collapse halfway through her performance.

‘Forget everything,’ he said firmly to her, taking her hand in his. She could feel how cold his fingers were, far too cold for having just been exposed to the rink air. ‘Focus only on this routine, everything else can wait for just a few minutes.’

She nodded resolutely, she’d put the thoughts of Toshiro and her feelings to rest, her concerns over her brothers dwindling health to the side and instead she’d focus entirely on the routine she was about to do; on her jump.

Rukia skated a long birth toward the middle of the rink to a loud applause, louder than she’d been expecting and she glanced quickly around for the source. She caught sight of a large number of Irish flags and the colours of green, white and orange bearing down on her from the stalls. Faltering for a second, she recognised the faces of the entire Australian team, decked out in Irish colours and cheering her on. The entire group seemed to be led by four prominent figures; Toshiro, Gin, Rangiku and Yuzu. The entrance pillars in front of where they sat had been decorated by a massive banner, featuring Rukia herself and a number of shamrocks and the #IreAussie tag.

Feeling heat blossom into her cheeks she took her starting place in the centre of the rink. There was a beat, a long moment before the music started and she heard a couple of hushed voices over the sound of the introductory beats. As she began to move, she could see the concerned faces, which blurred the faster her movements became.

The new music had not gone amiss, she could even hear the commentator commenting on it but his voice was drowned out by her focus and sheer determination. Rukia had taken everyone’s advice and placed her quad right at the beginning of her programme, and she focused on it with all her might, turning her back, left foot gliding on her outside edge. Then her right foot was cutting down into the ice with all the speed and strength she had, launching her into the air.

What if she failed and she fell in front of everyone who had come to support her? What if she let her brother down so badly that he left and didn’t want to be her coach ever again?

The second passed by in a beat, the thought so fleeting and yet the damage was already done. She came down hard on the ice, her jump missed entirely. Over a decade of figure skating had taught her to get right back again and she did so as quickly as she could, not daring to look at anyone despite the audience giving her a rousing cheer for attempting the jump anyway.

Angry tears prickled behind her eyes.

She’d already failed.

Never had she ever wanted to give up at the beginning of a performance before. Not until that very moment, the crushing weight of all the people she’d just let down hit her so harshly she felt like she’d just fallen and hit the ice hard again, over and over.

Byakuya who had sacrificed his whole life to raise her, Isane and Miyako who believed in her so fully that they’d come to the coach side to support her, the Australians who had come to cheer her on probably thanks to Toshiro and Rangiku, Chris who had changed the music for her.

Her country.

Rukia had let every single one of them down. Even Takahashi who had choreographed this routine for her in the first place, the routine that she was now butchering because she couldn’t pull her shit together.

From overhead she heard the rising cheers of the Aussies who had all come out to support her and a quick glance up at the stand told her that they’d not given up on her yet.

She’d already lost… so why not enjoy the rest of her performance?

The thought struck her, and lit a bit of fire back inside her chest. She was here to inspire just as Takahashi had done for her all those years ago, and she could still do that, despite a failed jump. Feeling her muscles relax at the thought, her movements began to feel more fluid and less robotic. Kicking her leg up high to bring her off the ice for a second, her death drop entry brought her down gracefully into a sit spin, where she was crouched low on the ice, one leg extended out as she spun. 

The weight of expectation was gone now, the weight of the podium was gone, all that was left was to skate for herself and for the people she wanted to inspire.

The new focus thrummed through her and her next jump was done perfectly, the triple axel had always been a favourite and she faced into the jump from her spread eagle and caught the ice perfectly. Landing the jump gave her more confidence, the feeling which had felt almost alien to her for the last couple of days was slowly rousing again. She knew this routine, she was confident in her abilities and she had to just trust that her body knew what it was doing.

The hum of the audience for her last jump faded into the background but roared again as she launched into a triple salchow, triple toe loop combination with her arms extended above her head to maximise her points.

Rukia’s body knew what it was doing, on some level she hadn’t even meant to put her arms up because she’d already admitted defeat, so what was the purpose in trying to maximise her points? Choosing not to dwell on the thought, she continued. The raw power of the song which had been lost with her lack of confidence at the beginning was beginning to settle itself back into her movements as she entered the second half. The ice was her playground with the weight of expectations gone and it felt more like a gala performance than an Olympic performance; one where she could have fun.

A smile graced her lips

Despite her small stature she used the entire ice like she owned it. As if she was larger than her size would suggest and as the song began to thrum a crescendo she could feel the chaotic clapping and cheers breathing new life back into her. Just like it had in the private practice section when she was there alone with Toshiro and Yuzu, two people who believed in her more than she probably believed in herself.

Rukia kicked at the ice, the movement which was aimed to go in time with the music helping her to change her pace, pulling back some of her speed as the crescendo rose. That feeling from her practice tore through her and she spared a glance up into the stands where she could see the Irish supporters still cheering her on, and met his eyes for a second. The large teal of his irises was impossible to see from such a distance and yet she felt it, as clear and as physical as his touch had been on her that morning.

And a new thought occurred to her.

She’d originally planned to put her jump into the last half of her routine anyway, and before she had even fully contemplated the thought her body was moving on instinct, completely of its own accord. Changing direction from the triple loop she had planned and catching her left side outside edge.

From the moment her free leg caught the ice to launch her into the air she’d already known she had enough speed and power to land it, and as the leg flung free of her landing, the audience screamed it approval and she couldn’t stop the wide grin that split across her face.

Rukia had done it. She’d landed the quad lutz.

Her position crouched into a hydroblade, her blade digging a deep edge into the ice, carving it as she kept her body low, almost touching the ice before pulling back up and launching into her final combination spin.

Rukia struck her finishing pose, her body raked with sweat and heaving and for a split second it seemed like all the noise had died from the world before exploding again.

She could barely hear the commentator over the screams from the fans and her legs shook where she stood on the ice, her hands coming up to cover her face for a second as she lost her composure. Rukia dug her palms deep into her eyes willing the tears to fall back and when they obeyed she removed her hands and beamed up to the crowds of people, giving them low bows as gift after gift was tossed onto the ice.

Rukia turned toward the rink edge, expecting to see her brother’s livid face ready to shout at her, but he was gone. Instead Miyako was stood there, her arms out wide and Rukia tried to hide the disappointment in her face as she skated over to the edge of the rink and embraced the Japanese coach instead.

She wanted to ask the same question she’d asked that day already. Where was her brother, why wasn’t he here? What was so much more important? But she feared the answer… maybe he was more upset at her change in routine than she’d anticipated and had left her because he couldn’t bear to look at her? Or maybe he left after her failed jump, his disappointment too much to just put into mere words?

Rukia pulled herself free from Miyako who was still gibbering happily in Japanese, too excited to use English and made her way over to the kiss and cry. The Japanese coach walked dutifully with her, clutching her water bottle and box of tissues as they sat down to await her scores.

‘Rukia? Rukia?’ the coaches voice seemed to be calling from somewhere far away.

Rukia glanced up and Miyako was looking at her with concern.

‘Are you alright?’

‘Where’s Byakuya?’ she asked the question and Miyako’s face hardened a little. Rukia could feel the threat of emotion ready to burst.

‘Byakuya had another call,’ she said, she seemed to be choosing her words very carefully. ‘I’m sure he’ll talk to you about it all later today.’

With a snort, Rukia folded her arms and leaned back, scowling. This was supposed to be one of the most important days in her life, in her career and he couldn’t even be here to support her? What was so damn important that a call meant more?

Rukia felt the anger dissipate as her eyes travelled the arena and she spotted the Irish supporters in the stands. She had a whole new family thanks to Toshiro and Gin. That thought made her smile and she unfolded her arms and waved over at them where they cheered loudly again, waving the Irish flags.

‘I don’t know why they’re so happy, it’s not like I’ll podium.’

‘Don’t be so sure,’ Miyako said firmly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The first quarter of your routine was pretty poor,’ she said firmly, the air of a coach being forceful with her words. ‘But the rest of it was exemplary, skating like I’ve never seen it done before. Not since Takahashi had fun out on the ice, plus your quad lutz in the second half of your programme.’ She whistled long and low, ‘the judges are taking their time. They’re really thinking about it.’

Rukia glanced at the screen where the replay in slow motion was showing the quad jump over and over from different angles and the commentator gushed openly about the fact she was the first woman to land it.

Miyako was right. The judges seemed to be taking their time judging. That could mean really good news or really bad news-

‘The scores please,’ the announcement came across the rink and a hushed silence fell.

‘Rukia Kuchiki has earned for her free programme a score of 151.10. This gives her a combined total of 227.99 and puts her in… second place.’

Rukia heard it but did not believe it. There were cheers and whoops from all around her and she felt numb. She had gotten onto the podium after all.

‘Congratulations Rukia!’ Miyako congratulated her, reaching out with her free arm and hugging her tightly.

‘Thanks,’ she said her whole body feeling strangely disconnected as she stood up and walked away from the kiss and cry to be greeted with an excited Isane.

‘We did it!’ she squealed, ‘we did it!’

Rukia glanced up at the final standings, Hiyori was in first place and the new Olympic champion with a combined total of 228.98. Rukia was in second with a combined total of 227.99 and Isane in third with a combined total of 221.34.

‘Congratulations Isane,’ Rukia said, her happiness for her friend outweighing her own as she beamed up at her. Isane had happy tears prickling her eyes as her coach hugged her.

‘Thank you Rukia,’ she sniffed, ‘thank you for everything.’

Rukia smiled and linked arms with the taller woman as they were led away and immediately stopped by the press to answer some questions.

_‘Rukia what made you attempt the lutz again?’_

_‘Rukia describe how you’re feeling for us please?’_

_‘Rukia how angry are you that you missed out on the gold medal by 1 point?’_

_‘Rukia what made you decide to change your entire routine?’_

_‘Rukia where is your coach?’_

‘I feel on top of the world, I knew with a new routine and what I was planning on doing that the chance of me getting on the podium at all was basically non-existent, so to do it and still take second place makes me very confident for the future.’ She chose to answer the most appropriate questions, being mindful of her words. ‘I am very proud to be on the podium with Isane and Hiyori.’

‘Can we expect to see the quad lutz in your routines from now on?’ one of the more respectable paparazzi asked and Rukia turned her attention on the man, he had light brown hair, flecked with grey strands and a kind smile.

‘Yes, I think it’s safe to say that I will be putting it in most of my routines going forward,’ she nodded, ‘and now that I’ve proven I can land the most difficult of the quads, I will begin to work on the others.’ She said it just as Hiyori walked up beside them, sparing the Russian woman a glance in time to see her jaw set at the threat.

‘Amazing, thank you’ he replied in response, before turning his attention to Isane.

Rukia managed to duck out after answering a couple more questions, aware that at some point over the next few days there would be a proper conference. Until then there was just the medal ceremony to get through and Rukia could tell from the way they were rolling the red carpet out onto the ice already that she wasn’t going to have enough time to get showered.

She made her way through the back and pulled open her locker, gazing at her reflection in the mirror. The sweat on her face had begun to dry and as she chose not to wear that much makeup, there wasn’t much of a mess left behind on her face. Still she fixed her hair, tying back as much as she could, save for a few lose strands that curled down around her neck and used one of her towels to try and wipe the rest of the sweat from her face.

Her heart was beating erratically in her chest, she had no idea what she was feeling and she was struggling to process all the emotions.

Anger at her brother, concern over what was going on with him, disappointment in that she only got silver and yet relief that she’d even medalled at all, annoyed that she’d failed her jump the first time and elated she’d landed it a second time, lonely that she had virtually no family here to support her or happy that the entire Aussie crew seem to have come out to support her.

She placed a hand on the side of her locker and took a few deep calming breaths.

‘There you are,’ the Japanese flew from Miyako’s mouth and Rukia glanced into the lockers mirror to see the Japanese coach standing in the doorway.

‘Sorry, I just needed to get a bit of space,’ Rukia said automatically.

‘Well you better come back out they’re set up and ready to hand out the medals, Isane refuses to go on the podium if you’re not there beside her.’

Rukia laughed at that and put her towel back, closing the door over before making her way back toward the rink with Miyako.

Isane was stood waiting for them with her arms folded, behind her the lights of the arena had been dimmed and the officials were rolling the red carpets out onto the ice. A few of the camera operators were making their way out to a spot on the ice for the close-ups and pictures. It felt weird walking back into the rink without her title, the weight settling a little more firmly in her stomach at the thought as she walked with practiced ease on her skates.

‘There you are,’ Isane said, frowning down at her, ‘I thought you were going to leave me to go to the podium alone.’

‘Never,’ Rukia replied, offering her friend a tentative grin. They stood watching and waiting as the podium was set up and Rukia’s eyes naturally drifted up to the stands where the Irish flags were still waving. Toshiro was talking to Gin and Rangiku, she could see them, despite the dimmed lights. Rangiku’s hair and Toshiro’s hair caught the drifting lights that were circling around the audience, they were talking with Gin who had an Irish flag draped over the fire exit in front of his and Rangiku’s seats.

As if sensing her gaze, Toshiro turned around and Gin and Rangiku’s gaze followed, all three of them beaming down at her. Rukia could feel Toshiro’s smile, the same smile that had been pressed against her lips, her skin and she watched as he pulled out a mini Irish flag and waved it at her. Rukia laughed and pulled her dark blue shamrock training jacket more firmly around her shoulders to stop the shiver that raked her body. Without competing on the ice, the frozen air of the arena was starting to pierce her thin fabric outfit and nip at her exposed legs.

Toshiro put the flag down on his lap and held up his arms, silently asking if she needed a hug and she just stuck her middle finger up at him which he took with a look of mock offence. Still she couldn’t stop the heat flushing across her cheeks at the moment and it didn’t go unnoticed by Isane who practically squealed beside her.

‘You two are so cute together,’ she gushed, ‘you’re going to have an adorable snow wedding and beautiful ice babies and-’

‘Shut up,’ Rukia hissed, as Hiyori walked over to them, the Russian girl threw them both a look and raised an eye brow at the embarrassed blush still adorned on Rukia’s cheeks.

‘Didn’t think you were one to blush Kuchiki,’ she said, her Russian accent sounding almost harsh in contrast to the Japanese and Australian accents Rukia’s ears had become so accustomed too.

‘Congratulations on the gold,’ Rukia steered the conversation gently, watching as the Russians girls eyes lit up for a moment. ‘And good luck keeping hold of it, I plan on stealing all the other gold medals going forward.’

The two locked eyes for a moment before Hiyori laughed.

‘You can try.’

‘Ladies and Gentleman,’ the announcement boomed in English after the French spoke, ‘the medal ceremony will now begin.’

Rukia smiled as Isane was introduced first, stepping out onto the rink and skating around in a small circle. She was pleased that the Australians and Irish seemed to be giving Isane a massive cheer as she skated towards the podium and took her spot on the lower platform with a massive smile on her face.

‘In second place… Rukia Kuchiki of Ireland,’ Rukia couldn’t even hear her country because the moment her name was announced there was a resounding uproar and Rukia laughed as she skated gracefully out onto the ice, waving at the crowed and beaming up in the direction of where the most Irish flags were now waving in the stands. From here it was impossible to even see Toshiro over the waving of the colours and the fact a lot of them appeared to be standing. She smirked to herself at the thought that a standing Toshiro and a sitting Toshiro were likely the same height. That grin on her face was held as she skated to the carpet in front of the podium and walked across it to give Isane a hug before stepping up onto the second tallest of the steps.

Then Hiyori was announced and there were a substantial amount of cheers but not nearly as many as there had been for Rukia or Isane. Hiyori greeted the two women before stepping up onto the top of the podium where they waited for the head of the Olympics and ISU to come out and give them their gifts. First was a mini version of their Olympic mascot which was a stuffed Ibex plush, second was a small bouquet of flowers and finally they were presented with their medals. Starting with bronze for Isane and ending with the Gold for Hiyori.

All three ladies then posed for pictures before leaving the ice just as the gathered crowd began to disperse.

Despite everything, there was one thing that Rukia had decided she wanted… needed. She wanted some feeling of normal, of comfort after the highs and lows of the day and that was Toshiro. When she left the ice, several news sources tried to catch her for a quick interview and she strategically managed to avoid most of them, stopping only to answer a couple of questions from the news sources she liked.

Rukia showered and changed quickly, not bothering with anything more than refreshing her eyeliner and shoving her wet hair up into a scruffy mess on top of her head, letting lose strands fall down. Rukia gathered her things and left in a flash after stopping to congratulate Isane one last time. As soon as she stepped out into the frigid cold air, she regretted not drying her hair but didn’t dwell too long as a chorus of people shouted her name and waved at her.

It was Gin, Ran, Toshiro and it seemed like a large portion of his family along with some of the Aussie athletes that had chosen to stay behind and wait. Toshiro was grinning sheepishly at her, he looked almost anxious and the little Irish flag that had been hastily drawn on his cheek had been smudged slightly. Rukia only had eyes for him as she approached much like she did that very first night, with sheer determination. The only difference this time was that she knew his name.

He caught her as she threw herself at him, two arms wrapping around his neck tightly and he lifted her up off the ground into a powerful hug. His arms relaxed around her, like he’d been holding in some kind of tension and when she pulled back her lips met his ceasing any words that had been about to spill out of them.

She’d not even thought about the paparazzi being around but thankfully when she pulled back the entire Australian and Irish team had surrounded them, cheering and clapping but also providing a protective circle.

‘Thank you,’ Rukia beamed down at him, since he still held her up in his arms. His face broke into a dazzling smile, her two favourite dimples coming out to wink at her once again, ‘thank you for everything.’

‘It was my pleasure,’ he chuckled, slowly letting her slide down his body so she could stand on her feet again but his arms not leaving her waist as if he wanted nothing more than to keep hold of her. Rukia leaned into his touch and breathed in the scent that was now so familiar to her it was like a home away from home.

‘You two are too cute,’ Rangiku chuckled.

‘Yeah, yeah, so when are we getting wasted?’ Renji’s voice sounded and Rukia twisted around to see the tall red head standing with an arm wrapped around Ichigo’s shoulders, helping to provide a large wall away from prying eyes. Rukia grinned up at him, knowing full well he was clearly a sucker for romance.

‘Ah say we get pished right now,’ Gin said reaching into his jacket and pulling out the silver flask Rukia had gotten him.

Rangiku took it from him without any hesitation and began to drink from it.

‘Rangiku!’ Yuzu scolded, torn between amusement and scandal, ‘you could get in trouble.’

Rukia watched Yuzu who seemed to be the closest to her and Toshiro in the circle and had clearly had a front row seat to the kiss.

‘Didn’t you say something about a BBQ babe?’ Renji asked and Ichigo beamed at his boyfriend.

‘Yeah, we just need to think about where we have it. I managed to get us stuff for one.’

Perhaps feeling a little rebellious, perhaps wanting payback, Rukia broke into a wicked smirk.

‘I know exactly where we can host it.’

\---

An hour later with the arrangements made Rukia only had three tasks. They were to get the spare key from Ukitake, ensure her brother wasn’t in his suite and to get ready. Rukia bounded down the corridor toward the room where the other two coaches were sharing and knocked lightly on the door.

‘Ah Rukia what a surprise,’ Urahara greeted, throwing the door open with a wide smile. Rukia glanced over his shoulder to see that Ukitake wasn’t in the room with him.

‘Where’s Jushiro?’ she asked, turning a curious eye up to the snowboarding cross coach.

‘Ah,’ Urahara suddenly looked uncertain for a moment before quickly recovering, ‘he’s out just now, think he went to go and get some food. Why are you asking?’

‘Do you know where my brother is?’ Rukia asked, she was probing to see if Urahara could possibly give her insight before she walked straight into his room. Somewhere in her gut Rukia was pissed that her brother had just outright left her at her Olympic finals, the previous apprehension that something may have been wrong drowned out and replaced with nothing but anger.

If something was really wrong with him, someone would have told her. Ukitake or Urahara would have been there, and even now as she stood staring up into the calculating eyes of Urahara he’d tell her if there was something wrong.

Thus, her brother had likely abandoned her for more selfish needs.

‘I’ve not seen him,’ he replied a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

‘Great,’ Rukia slipped into the hotel room, her eyes sliding across the room and spotting the room key quickly. ‘What’s going on with him anyway?’

The spare key was sitting on the desk, she knew it was the right one because it had the room number imprinted on the front of it. Rukia leaned against the desk, turning to Urahara and looking at him curiously like she was only here to check in.

‘Nothing’s going on with _him,_ ’ Urahara said carefully, he seemed to be choosing his words thoughtfully. ‘But I do think that you should speak with him yourself now that your competition is over. He’ll be a bit more open about why he’s been off lately.’

Rukia tried not to scoff at that. Unless he was dying or seriously ill then there surely shouldn’t have been anything as important as her Olympic event?

‘Yeah,’ Rukia huffed, ‘I’ll speak to him if he ever sticks around long enough for me to do so.’ She rolled her eyes and Urahara sighed, turning toward the bed and giving Rukia her moment. Her hand slid out behind her and grabbed the key before she shoved it into her pocket of her jumper. Urahara turned to her after he sat down on his bed.

‘I don’t know myself the fine details but really think he should talk to you about it, in fact I know he will.’ He nodded his head, seemingly decided, ‘try not to dwell on it just now and go and celebrate your win.’ He grinned.

‘Thanks,’ Rukia smiled, ‘second place.’

‘Is still excellent Rukia.’ He said firmly, ‘you were the first woman to land the quad lutz in competition and not just any competition… the Olympics. Go and celebrate.’

‘Thanks,’ an evil smirk crossed her features, ‘I will.’

Rukia crossed into her room and got changed. She decided to keep her second dress to save especially for the final night of the Olympics and instead re-wore the black piece she’d worn on her date with Toshiro.

Since it had been washed she’d thrown it back into her bag so she left it up in the shower room, turning on the hot water to steam it and quickly ducking her hair back under to wet it as it had dried up in her messy bun. Rukia proceeded to dry it into a position she wanted it to remain in, curling the iron at the ends and letting the little curls bundle against her shoulders. Her hair had grown quite a bit despite only being there for a week and a half.

Rukia checked her phone to see Toshiro reporting that they’d managed to get the BBQ stuff and she grinned down at the device as she pulled the card key and went to check her brother was still out.

**Rukia, 17:22pm:** You Aussie lot sure are resourceful ;) how did you even get that stuff?

His reply was almost instant, she could see him online and typing as she slipped the card key into her brother’s room door and it opened with a click. As she pushed it open she could already tell he wasn’t around, the lights were out and the curtains remained closed. Still she quickly checked the bedroom and bathroom before she threw open the curtains and glanced down to see Toshiro’s reply.

**Toshiro, 17:23pm:** An Aussie magician never reveals his secrets ;P I’ll see you soon, Beautiful xx

Rukia refused to admit how much the nick name ‘Beautiful’ made her feel. The little thrill ran down her body and it took her far too long to wipe the giddy smile from her face. Despite her feelings she also had a sense of foreboding and apprehension. She’d made the decision while getting ready that she would tell Toshiro how she was feeling. If he returned her feelings then they could worry about all the long distance stuff if they choose to continue it. If he did return her feelings a bit but decided long distance wasn’t his style then she’d try and enjoy the remaining time she had with him for as long as she could.

If he didn’t return her feelings…

She could feel the fear of rejection bubbling in her stomach and forced it back with a literal shake of her head. Rukia was pretty convinced he did, just from the way he spoke to her, held her and the things that Gin had said to her. She was about… 89% confident he returned her feelings and thus she shouldn’t have to set up a worst case scenario in her head.

Rukia expelled some of the nervous energy by unloading glasses from the little kitchen area, nipping back into her and Soi Fon’s room to grab the four extra glasses that were in theirs for water and cleaning them at the sink to ensure they were ready to go.

Toshiro text again to ask for the room number and once it was sent she felt like the minutes ticked by ridiculously slowly.

She heard them before she heard the knock, the loud voices coming down the corridor, they were not being quiet and Rukia grinned as she made her way over to the door and opened it literally as Renji held his arm up to knock, startling him.

‘Creepy wee Jesus,’ he scowled at her, repositioning his hold on a box of beers that he’d almost lost grip of when she opened the door.

‘Good to see you too,’ Rukia smirked up at him and held the door open for them all to come in.

‘Balcony, great,’ Ichigo pointed and he and Renji made their way over clearly setting up whatever they needed for the BBQ outside. There were a few Aussies that Rukia hadn’t been introduced too, Soi Fon came in and Rangiku and Gin who both greeted her with another massive hug and congratulations and Toshiro was just behind them with his sisters looking less than happy at the fact Yuzu had brought her boyfriend.

Rukia pursed her lips and remembered that Toshiro had told her he’d promised to be kind to him for Yuzu’s sake.

Yuzu gushed for a moment before being dragged off by Karin and Jinta to get a drink, finally leaving Rukia with Toshiro who closed the door after everyone. He was looking ridiculously good in a pale blue denim jacket, light grey shirt and black trousers.

Rukia smiled almost sheepishly at him, his large teal eyes softening as he locked eyes with her.

‘Hi,’ she smirked and he grinned.

‘Hello,’ Toshiro stepped over to her and leaned down capturing her lips for a second before pulling back. Clearly aware that there were other people in the room and they had a tendency to get carried away.

Or maybe that was just Rukia?

Either way, his hand which had been gently holding her waist fell to capture her hand and they made their way over to the kitchen area where Rangiku seemed to be mixing any kind of cocktails and drinks with the little alcohol and mixers they’d managed to acquire.

‘What’s on the menu?’ Rukia asked with a smirk as she and Toshiro sat on two of the little bar stools beside Karin.

‘Anything you want,’ Rangiku replied with a dangerous wink, ‘as long as you can use your imagination.’

Rukia laughed at that and she felt Toshiro’s eye roll beside her.

‘How dae yeh fell aboot yer win?’ Gin asked, still towering over her as he leaned against the makeshift bar space with a wide grin.

‘Still in shock,’ Rukia replied truthfully, ‘still feel like I should have gone for gold, but…’ she shrugged.

‘You were amazing,’ Toshiro’s words washed over her, the comforting weight of his hand on her leg had her reaching down to interlock their fingers on her lap. He beamed at her, his thumb rubbing across her knuckles in a private moment out of sight of all the other eyes in the room. Rukia smiled up at him, feeling the familiar heat rising in her cheeks at his compliment.

‘You two are too cute,’ Gin chuckled as he leaned back and Rangiku slid questioning looking drinks in front of them all.

Feeling the little bit of nerves bubbling down in her stomach at the thought of her approaching conversation with Toshiro, Rukia reached out with her left hand to grasp her drink, so she could keep her fingers interlocked with Toshiro’s on her lap. She raised the glass to her lips and sipped. The alcohol hit the back of her throat hard and she barely resisted the urge to cough.

‘How is it?’ Toshiro asked beside her, she glanced over to see him eyeing the drink sceptically.

‘Tasty,’ Rukia replied convincingly. Her words convinced him. Toshiro reached out with his other hand, he seemed just as keen as Rukia to keep their hands held below the bunker, and raised his own glass to his lips. Taking a sip he visibly recoiled.

‘You lied,’ he frowned at her and Rukia just grinned wider.

‘I was using my _imagination.’_

That earned her the pleasant sight of her two favourite dimples again and a very brief eye roll before he was forcing down another couple of sips.

‘I think it’s great,’ Karin said, turning back from her conversation with one of the other Aussie team members Rukia had not met yet.

‘That’s because all you can taste is alcohol,’ Toshiro pointed out.

‘Why would you want to taste anything else?’ Karin asked sarcastically.

‘Thanks babe,’ Rangiku winked at her and Karin swallowed hard around her second mouthful which caused Rukia and Gin to laugh.

‘I still can’t believe you all came out to watch me,’ Rukia shook her head, her hand briefly tightening over Toshiro’s under the table and he returned the soft squeeze with one of his own. ‘Seriously thank you so much.’ Rukia’s gaze shifted from Karin back to Toshiro and Rangiku.

Rangiku beamed down at her, tossing her strawberry blonde hair from her face and over her shoulder.

‘Anytime,’ she winked and Rukia spotted Gin making little twitches with his head. It took her a moment to realise he was trying to silently ask her to speak with him in private. Rukia slipped off her seat, earning a curious look from Toshiro who had to let go of her hand for her to reach the ground. She offered him a smile as a reply, hoping he’d know she’d be back in a few seconds.

Gin walked across the room toward the bedroom and picked up his rucksack on the way. Curiosity piquing Rukia shut the door the moment they were inside.

‘Dae yeh think this is too much?’ Gin asked before she had a chance to even ask what they were doing. Rukia watched as Gin fished in his bag for a moment before pulling out a beautifully wrapped box. Rukia stepped forward and took it. The box was roughly the size of a large envelope but deep, it didn’t weigh much and she glanced at him in confusion.

‘Open it,’ he instructed and she tugged at the pale blue bow, letting it fall away before taking the top off and pulling back the tissue paper. A smile graced her face when she saw what was inside and knew instantly who it was for.

Inside the box was a pale pink cashmere tartan scarf. The material was softer than cotton and known to be expensive, this scarf alone likely costing in the region of £300.

‘Ah got her this too,’ he held out another smaller box and Rukia walked over and put the scarf down on the bed before turning to take the smaller and heavier box. Inside this was a broach and she recognised the crest straight away as belonging to Clan Davidson which was the clan that Gin’s Scottish side of his family came from. She’d seen it before, the proud stag head with a strip of rope below its neck, the logo “Sapienter Si Sincere” around the outside.

‘What does it mean again?’ she asked, having forgotten the little motto of his house.

‘“Wisely, if sincerely,”’ he recited, ‘is it too much?’

‘No,’ Rukia smiled placing the lid back on the box of the broach. Gin had gotten her a similar gift once too, she loved it. They’d been fingerless gloves made from cashmere that she wore during rink practice sessions from time to time. The material was delicate and soft and he’d explained to her at the time that the scarfs in Scotland often came in a larger size to be worn over the shoulders, pinned by a broach much like the one in the box that Rukia was now handing back to him. ‘I think it’s perfect.’

Gin grinned nervously at her as he wrapped the gifts back up.

‘What inspired this?’ Rukia asked.

‘Ah just thought the baby pink would go well with her eyes, an ah thought the broach would be like… like a wee bit of me would be with her,’ he shrugged and Rukia giggled.

‘You’re such a romantic.’

‘You seem tae be headin’ tha’ way too,’ Gin teased as he placed them back in his bag carefully. Rukia choose to ignore this comment and they exited the room to see that Rangiku and Toshiro were standing over beside the open door to the balcony. Rukia walked over and saw that Ichigo and Renji literally had a full BBQ going out in the snow, the image was hilarious and she found herself pulling her phone out to snap a quick picture.

Then something caught her eye, a few boxes of snacks that had been placed on a table just inside the living room area.

‘What are those?’ Rukia asked and Toshiro stepped up beside her, having spotted her coming back. His eyes flickered up to Gin as if he was wondering what they’d been doing in the bedroom but Rukia wasn’t giving the game away with Rangiku so close by. Gin would give her the gifts when he was ready and in the meantime Rukia wouldn’t spoil the surprise.

‘They’re shapes,’ Toshiro said like this answered her question. Rukia picked up the first box and it did indeed read “Pizza Shapes” on the front of it.

‘And they’re crisps?’ she asked.

‘You’ve never had shapes?’ Toshiro asked and she turned to see him looking genuinely stunned as he took the box from her hand and opened them. Inside they were foil wrapped, and he opened this too before holding the box out to her. She lifted, what looked like, a cracker from inside and sniffed it apprehensively as Toshiro took one out and ate it with a grin. Rukia put it in her mouth, her fingers getting a bit of the dusting from it and bit down. It tasted exactly like a little cracker pizza.

‘Oh my gosh,’ she said, ‘they’re amazing.’

‘Right?’ he laughed eating his third as he nodded to the other boxes on the table. ‘It will be curious to see which one you like.’

He reached down and picked up and orange box, opening them too and holding them out. She could tell straight away that these ones were made from the same company because of the similar packaging but they were a different shape and flavour.

‘Chicken crimpies?’ Rukia asked as she picked the round cracker out the box and ate it. This one had an initial kick of flavour to it and Toshiro watched her curiously.

‘I think I prefer the pizza ones,’ she said after she finished chewing.

‘I think we’re going to fall out,’ Toshiro warned and she laughed at him.

‘I guess you like the chicken crimpies? Is this an Aussie thing?’ she asked.

‘Yes, a massive debate in Australia breaks out around why chicken crimpies are better than Pizza shapes,’ he said firmly causing Rukia to roll her eyes.

‘Let me be clear,’ Rukia said, ‘I like the Pizza ones because I don’t get to have actual pizza very often.’

Toshiro digested her words for a moment as he ate another two crimpies.

‘I hear what you’re saying,’ he said nodding his head seriously, ‘and it’s a fine argument. But chicken is still best.’

Rukia debated her points more firmly for a while, the two of them chatting as Gin led Rangiku away from the crowd currently getting food at the BBQ and pulled the gifts out his bag. Toshiro and Rukia were close enough and held their drinks in their hands, pretending to be engaged while secretly spying on their friends.

‘Ah got yeh something,’ Gin was saying in a hushed voice, pulling the boxes from his bag that Rukia had already seen. Rukia smiled into her glass as she watched Rangiku looking genuinely surprised but excited as she took the larger box in her hands and opened the bow.

‘What inspired this?’ Rangiku asked, coming across a little shy at the prospect of Gin having bought her a gift.

‘Just thought yeh’d maybe like yin,’ Gin said with a casual shrug but Rukia could tell by the way his eyes were scanning Rangiku’s face he was desperately seeking her approval. She pulled back the tissue paper and gasped softly.

‘It’s tartan?’ Rangiku asked reaching into the box to lift it out then gasped again, ‘oh my god it’s so soft!’ she squealed, her excitement now building as she pulled it out and wrapped it around her shoulders.

‘More a shawl,’ Gin corrected watching as her fingers rubbed every inch of the material she could reach.

‘I love it, I love the colour! I love the material! What is it made from?’ she asked the excitement in her voice making her heard over the loud laughter from the other side of the suite.

‘Cashmere,’ Gin replied, ‘it’s soft hairs found on the underside of a goat.’

‘I think it’s my new favourite material ever,’ Rangiku hummed, ‘thank you.’

‘There’s this too,’ he held up the smaller box.

‘Another one?’ she sounded even more startled and her large eyes were gazing down in shock.

‘Well it sorta goes with it,’ Gin nodded his head to the shawl and Rangiku opened the box.

Gin quickly explained what it was and as soon as he mentioned it was a broach, Rangiku took it out and pinned it gently at the shoulder to keep the shawl in place over the top part of her torso.

‘Ah didnae ken what house yeh were fae, so ah thought ah’d gie yeh mine, so ah’d be with yeh,’ he shrugged, his words coming out in a rush and Rukia was sure that maybe Rangiku hadn’t quite caught them all from how quickly he’d spoken them. The tall snowboarder did seem to appreciate the sentiment though, understanding that without the need for words and took a step toward Gin.

Rukia held her breath, her eyes on her best friend. Gin looked dumbstruck, but as Rangiku took another bold step closer so that their chests were almost touching, her indication couldn’t have been clearer.

 _Kiss her._ Rukia screamed in her head. Rangiku made one final move, tilting her chin up in a very obvious sign that someone shorter than their boyfriend would ask silently for a kiss.

_Kiss her. Kiss her. Kiss her._

Rukia was screaming it in her head, over and over, silently trying to send her best friend strength. Finally, after just a second longer, Gin leaned down and captured Rangiku’s lips with his own. Rukia silently fist pumped the air and she turned to see Toshiro grinning at her. He nodded his head in a “let’s give them some privacy” movement and the two of them crept silently across the room away from their tall friends who were now wrapped around each other.

‘Finally,’ Rukia breathed at Toshiro the moment they were away from their friends.

‘I know,’ he chuckled, ‘that was a long time coming.’

‘It doesn’t bother you?’ Rukia asked studying his face and knowing how protective of Rangiku he was. Toshiro glanced thoughtfully back over to them for a few seconds then shook his head.

‘No, Gin is a good guy even I can see that now. Besides I’m scared to say anything bad about him when his best friend is within punching distance.’ Toshiro teased and grinned down at her. Rukia laughed and playfully punched him anyway.

He used her proximity during the punch to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her close to him with a smirk and Rukia felt the shiver of excitement flash up her spine. Swallowing thickly as Toshiro put his drink down to rest on a nearby cabinet, she glanced back at the couple who seemed to have broken apart for a moment and were grinning stupidly at each other.

If Gin had the courage to make moves on Rangiku Matsumoto then surely… surely Rukia had the courage to tell Toshiro how she felt.

‘Rukia?’ Toshiro was gazing curiously down at her and she realised she’d gone stiff in his arms. He rubbed her lower back in small circles as she slowly tried to relax her body.

She could do this.

The sounds around her seemed to increase, she was very aware of how many people were in the room with them laughing and joking. The smell of the BBQ as the cold breeze brought the smell in from outside.

She could do this.

‘What’s wrong?’ Toshiro was frowning at her now, and she took a couple of deep breaths mentally preparing.

Why was this scarier than attempting a quad lutz? Why?

Because she felt like if he rejected her, she’d be crashing down from a much higher height. His eyebrows were pinched together now.

‘Toshiro,’ she started but at that moment there was a roar of noise and Rukia turned around quickly to see Byakuya.

Of all the worst possible timing.

The chattered seemed to die down and Byakuya looked livid. The more Rukia stared at him the more wild he seemed to become. His long hair which was usually very well kept was rough looking and unwashed. The dark circles under his eyes seemed to have gotten worse in the few hours since she’d last saw him and his face was red and blotchy with anger.

‘Too far Rukia,’ he snarled the moment his eyes met hers and she could tell from the look on his face that he meant it. Toshiro’s comforting hand was still on her but had moved around her waist as Byakuya stomped over to her. The Australian athletes parting like the red sea.

‘I want everyone gone, I want everyone out now,’ he snarled, and his eyes fell on where Toshiro was holding her around the waist. Byakuya’s eyes flickered up to Toshiro’s face and Rukia saw the recognition flash across his features. He’d seen Toshiro’s face enough on her phone and it seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

‘Let go of her,’ his voice was low and dangerous and Rukia felt her whole stomach twist uncomfortably. She’d never seen Byakuya this mad before. Rukia had just been on the verge of finally telling Toshiro how she felt, she’d been gearing herself up emotionally and now the emotions were spiralling in all the wrong directions. Toshiro’s hand did not let go, instead he tightened his grip and Rukia turned to try and look at him.

Toshiro’s face looked resolute as he glared at Byakuya, his jaw set and Rukia felt another rush of affection for the snowboarder.

Byakuya threw back his head and let out a laugh she’d never heard him make. It sounded deranged.

‘What you think she cares about you?’ he snarled, ‘she doesn’t care about anyone but herself.’

Rukia felt her blood run cold, behind Byakuya Gin took a step forward as if he were about to intervene but Rangiku held him in place, her eyes on Rukia.

Rukia felt like her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth, and still Byakuya kept going.

‘You’ve been sleeping around again, treating men like they’re some kind of sick twisted play thing, like they don’t even have feelings. But it’s you, Rukia, you who needs to look in the mirror, because you don’t give a shit about anyone but yourself and you never have. “See all those little cracks in that reflection that stares back at you? It’s about time those cracks gave way!”’

She felt like she’d been slapped. Those words. That specific reference was for her ears only. It was words that Hisana had used in an argument against Byakuya many years ago. To hear her own sister’s words thrown back at her stung worse than any physical blow could. Rukia stood rooted, unable to move, her eyes on her brother.

‘Wait a minute,’ Toshiro intervened, since it seemed she wasn’t about to stand up for herself at all. The snowboarder stood to his full height and took a step slightly in front of Rukia, as if shielding her from view.

‘Don’t you dare try to defend her,’ Byakuya barked, his face contorting with grief and fury, ‘what did you think you were _special?_ Did you genuinely think she gave a crap about your feelings? She doesn’t. She does this with every single other guy she meets and in a weeks’ time you’ll just be another little insignificant number she’ll have blocked on her phone and forgotten from her thoughts as she moves onto the next guy in line.’

Toshiro’s body had frozen in front of her and Rukia could feel the panic rising in her chest. It was bubbling and she hated it because his words held such an element of truth to them. Toshiro was different but Rukia hadn’t given a shit about any of the other guy’s feelings prior to him. She’d treated them all like shit, like dirt. What had she been thinking? That she could magically treat Toshiro better?

Toshiro turned to her, his face looking a little hurt, but hopeful.

‘It’s not true though is it?’ he asked, his voice somewhere between determined and scared.

Rukia stood before the entire audience, her body shaking, like a deer caught in headlights.

Toshiro held on for a few more seconds then his shoulders slumped and his face crumpled.

‘Tell me it’s not true…’

‘See, I told you,’ Byakuya snarled, ‘go home kid. Save yourself what little dignity you have because she’ll strip it all from you by the end of this week if you don’t go now.’

_SAY SOMETHING!_

Rukia’s mind was screaming to say something to tell him it wasn’t true, but she was still reeling from Byakuya’s insults which had cut her deeper than any knife ever could. Rukia tried to force her mouth open but the tight sensation around her throat genuinely made it feel like she was going to vomit if she did.

‘Everyone out.’ Byakuya repeated and this time everyone did as they were told. Toshiro stood for another few seconds staring at Rukia, and she tried desperately to communicate with her eyes what her mouth was unwilling to say.

_But you’re saving him._

It was a small voice in the back of her mind.

_You’re saving him from the eventual hurt he’ll have to go through if you continue, knowing that you can’t love someone properly… that you never have._

Watching Toshiro walk away was like a bad moving playing. Where the CGI was low quality and the edges were blurred and blackened. Toshiro left with the rest of the athletes and Rukia barely had time to register anything until it was just her and Byakuya standing in the room.

Byakuya seemed to check himself, his face looking sunken and grave. Rukia wasn’t sure if there was a flicker of regret that crossed his face in a moment before he sighed.

‘Rukia I’m-’

‘How could you?’ Rukia was surprised to hear her own voice after it had been silent for so long. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, she still felt like there were fingers closing around her throat but the sick feeling which had been present during everyone’s gaze on her had subsided enough that she could open her mouth again. Rukia took a few steps forward toward the door, where they’d all disappeared before rounding on him.

It felt like someone had just snapped a branch and it should have scared her how quickly her anger came bubbling to the surface.

‘Don’t-’ Byakuya started but Rukia cut over him.

‘You don’t have a fucking clue do you?’ she snarled, ‘you’ve no idea, _no idea_ , how I’ve felt since my sister’s death?’

The mention of her sister seemed to catch Byakuya off guard, his sentence stuttering from his mouth and the shock evident across his pale face. Rukia had barely spoken about her sister to Byakuya since her passing.

‘I’ve felt nothing but this horrible hollow feeling in my chest, like someone’s ripped a hole right through it. And for years since she passed I’ve been trying to fill it, fill it with as many things as I can in a hope that something could make me feel put together again.’ Rukia blinked back the moisture in her gaze, watching as Byakuya’s face became blurry through her tears.

‘Being here with them,’ she waved a hand at the door where all her friends had just departed, ‘has made me feel closer to filling that gaping void than I’ve felt since she passed. Not that you’d care because _you’ve not even bothered to be around._ ’ Her voice went slightly shriller toward the end of the sentence, her emotions kicking in double time and still Byakuya stared at her dumbfounded, unwilling to interrupt. ‘If you’d even been here for me, you’d have seen how happy he made me, but no, you’ve fucked off, keeping your secrets leaving me feeling like I don’t have a single family member left in my life. Well you know what, you can just fuck off. I don’t need you, I don’t have any family left.’

Byakuya never got the chance to respond because Rukia turned on her heel at that exact moment and stormed from the room.

She had no urge to chase down Toshiro, she had no energy to race off and try and catch up with the Australian lot. If anything her anger was directed to Toshiro just as much as Byakuya. After all he knew about her… he knew she hated talking feelings in private let alone anywhere else. He should have known that a scene playing out like that was her idea of hell and yet he’d stood there and demanded an answer from her in front of everyone.

Rukia felt like her emotions were all over the place, she wanted to throw something, hurt someone just to let her anger out. Before she’d even fully registered where she was going, she found herself in her hotel room, where Gin was waiting for her.

Her lavender haired friend turned his slanted gaze on her and before he’d even opened his mouth Rukia burst into tears. Once the sobs came, it felt like they wouldn’t stop.

Gin crossed the room in two easy strides and pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

Rukia was aware of nothing except the overwhelming emotions that had been building over the last few days. Each one was a jumbled mess that she wasn’t even exactly sure why she was crying. She couldn’t put an emotion to a specific event because they all seemed to have avalanched into one. Her hurt over Toshiro, her anger towards him, her embarrassment over what had just occurred, her anger toward Byakuya, her disappointment in her silver medal, her confusion over her feelings for Toshiro… her head was a disconcerting mess.

She wasn’t sure how long she sobbed into Gin’s shoulders and she wasn’t even aware when he’d steered her toward her bed but when the sobs began to subside, Gin demanded answers.

‘Why didn’t yeh go after him?’ he asked softly, trying to keep any note of accusation from his voice.

‘Because he shouldn’t have done that to me,’ Rukia managed, despite the fact her sobs still interjected her words. ‘He should have known better, after all I’ve told him, how a situation like that would make me feel.’

Gin nodded solemnly, he seemed to be choosing his words very carefully as he thoughtfully contemplated. Rukia used the time to try and calm her sobs, wiping her eyes angrily against the hem of her dress, which she’d pulled up as she sat on the bed.

‘Ah knew yeh liked him but… when were yeh plannin’ on tellin’ him?’ he asked, again working to keep any accusatory element from his voice. Despite his attempts though Rukia felt her guard go up and she shot him a look to which he held up his hands defensively.

‘If you must know,’ she said, her voice laced with a little more venom than she intended, ‘I was literally planning to do it that night. I’d just started when Byakuya decided to interrupt us.’

‘Are yeh gonnae tell him the morra?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she said it quickly without really thinking it through and sighed, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Maybe before yeh make any rash decisions you should sleep oan it?’ he asked and Rukia nodded. Some sleep would maybe help. Responding to a situation in anger was never a good idea, and yet as she got ready for bed, she found herself changing her banking passwords to lock Byakuya out of her accounts.

Rukia didn’t expect Byakuya to try and steal from her or anything of the sort, she was mostly doing it purely out of spite because she felt like she had to do _something_ to hurt him back. Gin decided to spend the night but Rukia made it clear that they were done talking. Despite that when she lay in bed she found her mind reeling over every single thing that had happened that day, playing the scenes out over and over from different angles in the hopes that they’d bring further clarification.

Somewhere in amongst the chaos of her thoughts, she slipped into an uneasy sleep.

\-----

**@** **Christophe-gc**  
_When the ship just gets larger and larger and we’re all struggling to stay on it.  
Retweeted from **@RukiaFansOfficial**  
All of the Aussies turn up to cheer on our Rukia #RukiShiro #IreAussie [Image Attached]_

**@ IrishLass101  
_@_** **_Christophe-gc_ ** _Capt’n we’re gonna need a bigger boat!!!_

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
_@@_** ** _Christophe-gc_** _**@IrishLass101**_ _We’re going to need to get a bloody fleet! #RukiShiro #IreAussie #IAMSOEXCITED #SOMEONEBRINGPIZZASHAPES_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
** _I can honestly say that watching the events of the Olympic games and #RukiaShiro and #IreAussie and #GinRan unfold has been giving me LIFE._

****

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
** _Omg! **@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice** SAME! (sobbing) (heart) (heart) (heart)_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
_@RanRoxyQueen29_** _We can board our ships together and enjoy our new life._

**@IrishLass101  
_@RanRoxyQueen29 @GinIsMyDrinkofChoice_** _Not gonna lie, kinda shipping you two now too LOL!_

**@Toshiupdates  
_@IrishLass101_** _AGREED! (laughing) (laughing)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always guys please leave a comment with your thoughts and views... 
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord then you can do so here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)
> 
> My trello can be found here: https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions  
> Where you can be kept up to date on my writing projects and when the next chapter is due up!


	10. The Crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toshiro’s body continued its descent down the slope, no one able to stop it as he was tossed like a rag doll, his board the only thing that eventually caught the snow and slowed him. 
> 
> But he wasn’t moving. 
> 
> The entire canteen was roaring, noise unlike anything Rukia had ever heard before in her life. It wasn’t until Gin’s arms wrapped around her from behind that Rukia was aware the noise was coming from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to suck out the poison....

_ The Ship that Keeps on Sailing _

_The #RukiShiro ship seems to have caused havoc all over the internet, exploding on Instagram, trending on twitter and even being spoken about all over Facebook and Youtube. With big channels covering and referencing the ship that’s blown up the internet including the likes of Philip Defranco and DramaAlert on Youtube it’s no wonder that Rukia Kuchiki and Toshiro Shiba are two of googles most popular web searches this month alone._

_Many sources close to the couple have confirmed their relationship though no official posts have been made, the two have been photographed multiple times and even recorded multiple times getting cosy and close, dancing and drinking together._

_Despite all this there are still a few who remain unchanged, convinced that the relationship is just a friendship and isn’t actually going anywhere. A few sources around Instagram seem sure that Toshiro Shiba is still in a relationship with ex-girlfriend Momo while other sources say she’s a stalker who simply won’t leave him alone._

_But with pictures like this one:_

_< Picture source; Instagram, Calvin Klein model shoot> _

_We can hardly blame any woman from not being able to stay away. The question fans have now, has the happy couple shacked up yet? Will the relationship continue after the Olympics? And how will they make the distance work…_

* * *

The next morning did not bring any answers, instead it brought more doubt and confusion and anger. Rukia lay in bed, watching as the sun split through the plain beige curtains, the dust particles swirling in the air and listened to the deep and even breaths of her best friend beside her. Soi Fon had not returned to the room last night, either she’d scored or she’d gone to stay with a new friend to give Rukia some privacy. Soi Fon was just as bad as Rukia when it came to talking about emotions, so it was also likely that the girl was simply avoiding her.

Rukia twisted in the bed, turning to face Gin and watching the way his pale eyelashes fluttered in sleep. She’d decided not to wake him early. He needed the rest because it was his semi-finals in the late afternoon.

Rukia wasn’t sure how well he’d do. She knew she’d believe in him and encourage him to do his very best, offering him the same level of support he’d always given her. She tried to focus on that thought while the sun rose and eventually he stirred when the light bled across his face.

‘Timesit?’ Gin mumbled as he twisted his face away from her and the sun which had infiltrated the room.

‘It’s like eight thirty,’ Rukia replied and something in her voice caused him to pause and turn back to her. Gin fixed her with one intense eye, the other one still closed with sleep. He seemed to be assessing her with his gaze.

‘How are yeh feeling?’ he asked.

‘Fine.’

‘Feelings inside not expressed,’ he raised an eyebrow at her and Rukia scowled. She’d always hated that explication for the word.

‘Are yeh gonna call him?’ Gin asked turning away and burying his face into the pillow to stop his eyes being blinded by the sunlight.

‘No, we’re going to go and get you ready for your final,’ Rukia pulled back the covers and Gin gave a groan.

‘Ah thought we were gonnae talk about you th’ day?’ he mumbled into the fabric.

‘Get your ass up Gin,’ Rukia demanded and he responded by pulling the covers up and over his head. With a click of her tongue, Rukia pulled one of the pillows off the other bed and beat it down over , causing he lumpy covers causing him to yelp.

When Gin finally got up, it was well established that Toshiro was a topic that was out of bounds for the day. Rukia hadn’t had enough sleep to dwell on the fact that Toshiro had called her out in front of everyone and that he should have known better about how that would make her feel. Rukia was crushed, she could feel the unbelievable weight pressing down on her and it was so close to the feeling of her sister’s death that she didn't want to entertain it. Instead she decided to focus on the one constant thing in her life; Gin.

‘Yeh dinnae have tae worry,’ Gin rolled his eyes as Rukia glanced nervously over her shoulder for the third time when she heard the gym doors open, ‘ah saw Rangiku’s Instagram they were all getting pretty drunk last night.’

They’d made it down to the gym so that Gin could get some light training in to keep his muscles engaged and ready.

‘I thought Rangiku had her final this morning?’ Rukia asked.

‘Aye she does but ah don’t think she was the one getting drunk,’ he made a face and Rukia turned away so he wouldn’t see the emotion that flickered across her features at his words. What did that mean? Likely that Rangiku had taken Toshiro out to get really drunk… a horrible feeling of bile rose in Rukia’s throat. What if Toshiro had…

Why should she care? Rukia took a deep breath and pulled her eyes back to Gin who was looking at her rather than focusing on his cardio. Rukia barked at him and with a suffering eye roll he got back to work. Gin continued his light jog on the treadmill and feeling useless, Rukia hopped on the one beside him for a brisk walk. She needed to get her muscles moving and she couldn’t exactly go off and find a rink that wasn’t in use at the Olympics.

‘So we’re not going tae talk about it?’

‘We already did,’ Rukia gritted her teeth, mostly because she didn’t want to express the emotions that were constricting her chest every single time she thought about the evening before.

‘Barely,’ Gin’s voice sounded incredulous beside her.

‘Not today Gin,’ her voice held that edge and he sighed, dropping it for the time being. They moved together in companionable silence after that, Gin jogging and Rukia switching between a jog and a brisk walk. Briefly the thoughts would flicker in her mind; Toshiro, Byakuya and her silver medal.

Rukia turned the speed up and lost herself to the feeling of burning muscles. It was clear Gin wanted to continue talking about last night. He practically vibrated with unresolved tension but Rukia shut down any topic even remotely close to the BBQ.

They worked out through the morning and when the time came for Rangiku’s final Rukia realised she had a decision to make.

‘Well ah’m going tae watch it,’ Gin said as he put the training belt away and glanced at her, ‘ah’ll understand if you dinnae, but ah wanna be there when she takes gold.’

Rukia’s mouth twitched up at the corner and she glanced up at Gin, ‘you’ve got so much faith in her.’

‘She’ll destroy them,’ his grin was blinding, and he motioned with his hand, ‘come with me an’ see.’

Rukia glanced up at the gyms television which was mounted on the wall above the weight station, a commentator gibbering enthusiastically in French talking about the upcoming contest and Rukia bit the inside of her lip. Rangiku would be feeling all kind of nerves right now, it was every athlete’s dream to be at the Olympics and despite Rangiku having been and already won gold, Rukia knew more than anyone that did not elevate the pressure. If anything, it added more pressure. You were no longer an underdog, you were expected to come in and do well. 

‘Alright,’ Rukia nodded, ‘but if we see Toshiro I’m out.’

It hurt to even say his name and Rukia barely forced the noun from her mouth. Gin nodded and winked.

‘Dinnae worry, ah’m tall, ah’ll spot him a mile away,’ he ducked into the men’s changing room to get ready and Rukia dragged her feet into the women’s. She could feel all the thoughts about Toshiro, her brother, Rangiku, her lack of gold medal, all pressing on the back of her mind, like a dam whose walls were ready to break.

‘Just a little longer,’ she huffed to herself, gritting her teeth, she’d deal with it later. Tomorrow even, once Gin’s competition was out of the way. Even Rukia knew that putting things off wasn’t the way to deal with the challenges in her life, but she couldn’t help it. If she kept pushing the thoughts onto the next day, the day after then she’d never have to deal with them at all, and eventually they’d just go away…

Gin met her outside and Rukia could spot the nerves in his body. His gangly limbs moved more awkwardly, and his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Without a word, Rukia reached out and took his hand, interlacing their fingers and rubbing her thumb soothingly against his skin. She didn’t care what anyone may say about them, they’d heard it all before. Gin was a physical guy, he always had been, and physical touch was the best source of comfort for him. It was the best comfort Rukia could give him. Rukia wasn’t great with her words, she’d always been better at the physical contact. This was the best she could do for him right now.

They made their way back to their rooms, throwing on their snow clothes knowing they were going to be sitting outside for a very long time. On the way to the chairlifts, Rukia stopped to get them a warm drink and she decided to settle on a hot chocolate.

Her competition was over… she could afford a bit of luxury now.

They made their way to an enclosed area that was reserved for other athletes who wanted to come and watch the competition. This area was not at the bottom of the slope style course but had been set up at the top, where the competitors themselves were. Though they weren’t allowed near the actual tent where the coaches and athletes seemed to be running frantic, Rukia kept her eyes open for any sign of snowy white hair.

‘Relax,’ Gin breathed, finishing off the last of his warm coffee and popping the empty paper cup in a bin, ‘he’s not here, ah’d have seen him.’

‘Why isn’t he? It’s Rangiku’s final!’ Rukia frowned, her brows pulling together as she tried to come up with a logical explanation. It didn’t seem like Toshiro at all, who went out of his way to be a pillar of support for his family and friends at his own expense. ‘It’s not like he has a competition today does he?’ Rukia suddenly wondered if she’d got the dates wrong in her head.

‘Nah, his is tomorrow, but it is weird him no bein’ here,’ Gin replied glancing around as the competition started and the first of the women went down the slope. ‘Maybe he got too drunk?’

Rukia flinched; having a competition the next day and being that ill with a hangover wouldn’t be good for him. What was Rangiku thinking? Rukia huffed and her head swam with a million better scenarios of how his night would have gone if they’d not had a run in with Byakuya… they’d likely both be standing here with Gin cheering Rangiku on, Toshiro with his keep cup coffee and gleaming teal eyes.

She realised it was hard to stop thinking about him, to stop thinking of what could have been. Rukia was so angry with herself, because she’d never let a guy get under her skin this much before, and for good reason. She’d only known him just over a week and look at the effect he’d already had on her life.

Rukia could barely supress the grimace and was distracted as one of Rangiku’s biggest competitor’s name was announced.

‘Tatsuki,’ Gin breathed and Rukia sat up a little straighter, watching as the girls geared up frame appeared on the screen that Rukia and Gin were watching. The girl was wearing the boisterous USA colours but somehow managed to pull them off well with the rest of her gear. She had a comfortable smile on her lips and looked relaxed as she grasped hands with her coach. Rukia watched as the women slide down the slope and only had a second to marvel at the ease with which the girl moved on a board before she was taking off sideways at full speed.

Rukia held her breath as Tatsuki made her way through various obstacles, she didn’t have a clue what half the tricks were called, but the woman wasn’t falling or faltering so she knew she was putting out a good show. Gin gasped and groaned beside Rukia with each trick Tatsuki did and despite the fact no one would ever wish a fall upon a competitor, Rukia really did wish that Tatsuki would maybe just put a hand down on a landing or something?

But she didn’t. The young twenty something year old from Arisawa arrived safe and sound at the bottom of the slope thrusting her arm into the air as she grinned broadly.

‘Fuck tha’ was good,’ Gin huffed as he slumped back in his seat. Rukia sat forward eagerly waiting for the scores. When they came in, they were good. The score of 83.95 flashed up on the screen instantly throwing Tatsuki up into first place. Rukia ground her teeth and Gin sat up a little straighter as Rangiku’s name was called next. The tall Australian woman looked imposing or would have if the colour of her own uniform hadn’t brought a comforting sense of familiarity to Rukia. Rangiku looked relaxed, as she fixed her mittens onto her wrists, Isshin stood beside her, muttering in her ear and Rangiku was nodding along.

Seeing the two sent a sharp stab of pain through Rukia’s chest and she inhaled sharply. Thankfully due to the noise of the crowd and the loud booming voice of the two commentators, Gin hadn’t heard it.

Gin gave Rukia a running commentary of exactly how he thought this was going to go down. Gin was right up until a certain point, Rangiku did well until her third rail but stuffed her landing which messed up her entry to the biggest jump. The round was basically a throw away for her. This was fine, as they knew she had 2 more chances to get it right.

Another few girls then went including one called Nanao, who Gin also commentated, was another of Rangiku’s formidable opponents this year.

Rukia tried to keep up, her eyes sweeping over the snowy conditions as volunteer skiers made their way down the side of the slope checking it for any imperfections and clearing them away to prevent injury and unsuitable conditions before the start of the second round. Rukia’s eyes flew back to the screen which was showing an overhead shot of the track with the current placings, Rangiku’s name was halfway down the list, sitting just above Nanao.

The second round came underway and Rukia found her attention waning as a lot of the smaller competitors went first again. When Tatsuki’s name was announced Rukia sat up and paid closer attention, the woman from USA started strong and looked to be setting up a better score than she’d already got, further securing her place in first, but on the second to last hurdle she couldn’t get her board around in enough time and stumbled on her landing, falling out of it. The fall wasn’t bad, the athletes were taught how to fall safely and when she stood, she just looked more frustrated than hurt.

Tatsuki wasn’t the only one to fall on the track, there were a few, but then Rangiku’s name was called and Rukia leaned forward to watch eagerly. Rangiku still had a look of total concentration as Isshin nodded to her.

The tall Aussie took off down the course, her run mostly the same to her last, except a slight difference on one of the rails, Gin seemed excited about it and tried to inform Rukia something about Rangiku hitting it switch or backwards or something that meant she wasn’t using her dominant foot for the landing. Apparently, it was worth more points and Rukia smiled to herself as she realised that this was probably how everyone else felt about her jumps… unable to tell them apart because it happened so fast and took a trained eye to really notice the tricks.

Rangiku tumbled at the exact same place she did the last time and Rukia audibly groaned with Gin. That meant she had one chance left, one more shot to nail her performance… it was clear Rangiku wasn’t going to strip back her tricks in order to land them safely, she was here to win, and she’d do or die.

Rukia huffed, sitting back in her seat and began to fret.

‘She’ll get it,’ Gin said confidently, and Rukia made a noise like she wasn’t so sure. She knew what pressure could do to an athlete. Rukia and Gin were discussing it for too long, they missed the Canadian girl and only glanced up when the crowd of cheers drew their attention. They watched the proud look on Nanao’s face as she pulled her helmet off and hugged someone at the bottom of the track. Gin sucked in a breath and Rukia felt butterflies in her stomach as they waited for the woman’s score to come through.

85.76

It shot her up into first place, her name now nestled comfortably above Tatsuki’s. Rukia felt her stomach drop and Gin let out a low whistle. Clearly that was a hard score to get in this competition and a hard score to beat.

When Tatsuki was up again she tried for a third time to outdo her score but fell short of it, looking a bit frustrated with herself but confident that she’d secured either a silver or bronze medal. Rukia held her breath for a third time when Rangiku was shown back on screen and craned her neck to see the woman in real life. Together her and Gin gave her a loud cheer, trying to do their best to show their support. Rangiku’s mask seemed to have slipped and there was a tick of apprehension in her mouth, Rukia could see it now.

The girl started down the slope, hitting the rails with the fancy stuff and Rukia knew she wasn’t pulling anything back from her routine. She was going big or going home empty handed… well from this event anyway, she still had one more to go.

Rangiku came up to her pain point on the slope, the one where she’d faltered every round before, but this time she landed it perfectly and Gin stomped his foot, cheering in appreciation as Rangiku finished off an impressive looking run.

The Australian woman was grinning broadly at the bottom as she took her goggles off and flashed her stunning grin into the camera. Rukia could practically feel Gin melt beside her and laughed, patting his knee condescendingly.

‘Hang in there, Lover Boy,’ Rukia chuckled, ‘let’s see her score.’

Rangiku waited for her score and Gin and Rukia held their breaths, then the score flashed up on the screen; 84.00 it had put her right into second place. She’d taken silver!

The only competitor left to go down the slope was Nanao and she’d already won gold, it was basically a victory lap. Rangiku looked chuffed and the cameras cut to Nanao who was hugging her coach at the top of the course and looked elated. The Canadian colours red, black and white looking obtrusive next to the powder white of the snow. The woman’s coach tied the Canadian flag around her shoulders and Nanao had an easy run down the course, her flag billowing out behind her like a cape.

Rukia and Gin stayed for the next thirty minutes while they prepared the area for the medal ceremony and cheered loudly when Rangiku was announced and accepted her silver medal. She beamed proudly down at it and Rukia smiled.

She wished she could have the same level of enthusiasm for the colour as Rangiku did.

‘Dae yeh want tae go an’ see her?’ Gin asked, excitement evident in his voice.

Rukia looked down the course, the large crowds gathered at the bottom and all the cameras and shook her head quickly.

‘Nah I think I’ll go hide,’ she said, and Gin nodded his head. He must have known she didn’t really want to face any more potential paparazzi and though they were here to cover the slopestyle event that wouldn’t stop them from dive bombing her with potential questions.

Instead Rukia made her way down the slope alone in the chairlifts while Gin went off in search of Rangiku. He promised not to stay too long and a quick call with Urahara had confirmed that Rukia would be meeting him over at the cross course before Gin went to take part in the semi-final.

Rukia’s apprehension and elation over Rangiku’s slopestyle event began to wear off and what was left in its place was a dull pain in her chest. Like the tall strawberry blonde was a physical reminder of everything Rukia had lost over the last 24 hours. With the recognition of the pain came an empty cold feeling that had her wincing with every step she took through the snow in the direction of the cross field. Her stomach seemed to be joining in the torture and suddenly the hot chocolate hadn’t seemed like such a good idea.

When she emerged from the bathroom, sweat was beading on the back of her neck, her stomach too unsettled to eat even though she knew she ought to. Rukia trudged up the hill, fighting an internal battle, as it felt all her walls would come crumbling down if she didn’t distract herself soon.

‘Rukia!’ her stomach settled at the familiar voice, Soi Fon waving and Urahara standing beside her with a wide grin on his face.

‘Was wondering what was taking you so long,’ Urahara smirked, ‘I thought Gin said you left ages ago, I was having visions of you drowning under a pile of naked men.’

Rukia flinched at the comment though he’d obviously meant it in good humour, sometimes Urahara didn’t know where the line was. Soi Fon rolled her eyes and shoved him harshly, despite the size difference between them, Urahara stumbled.

‘Let’s go get good seats,’ Soi Fon said, turning and walking away from her coach. Rukia quickly followed her and they filed into seats at the bottom of the course this time. From where they sat, they had a full view, but the giant screens that were set up would still show them more than their eyes could see on the course.

Though this was technically called the ‘Semi-Finals’ they would lead immediately into the finals. In fact, each racer would race a total of 3 times if they made it the whole way through, it would start with a quarter-final knockout round, then move onto the actual semi-finals and finally the last 6 of the remaining athletes would be left in the finals.

‘I brought alcohol,’ Soi Fon said pulling the bottle out from inside her jacket. Rukia could feel the unease in her stomach as she looked at it, wondering if it really were a good idea considering she hadn’t been feeling well.

Then a familiar voice called out and Rukia and Soi Fon turned to see Rangiku towering over them, her face hesitant but with a timid smile.

‘Do you mind if I sit with you?’ she asked and Soi Fon shook her head before Rukia could react.

Of course, Rangiku would come to cheer for Gin.

As soon as Rangiku’s ass touched the plastic on the seat beside Soi Fon, Rukia had the bottle of whisky out of the other Irish woman’s hands.

‘Congratulations on your silver medal,’ Soi Fon said conversationally to Rangiku when it was clear that Rukia wasn’t going to say anything to acknowledge the taller woman. Rukia could feel Rangiku’s eyes on her face but kept her gaze pointedly away because she had no idea what to say to the woman.

Gin wasn’t up until the third group, which meant they had to sit through two lots of athletes they didn’t know nor care about. Between Soi Fon and Rangiku the chat was kept light and pleasant.

‘So Rukia,’ Rangiku’s voice finally called her attention and Rukia turned slowly, her leg stopped bouncing for a beat then doubled back up in speed. Rangiku’s eyes flickered to her leg for a moment before going back to her face, her large baby blue eyes searching…

‘Is that whisky yours?’ she offered Rukia a kind smile and Rukia handed it over. Rangiku grinned broadly and took it from her, taking a quick swig and making a face.

‘That’s good quality stuff there,’ Soi Fon defended instantly.

‘I know,’ Rangiku wheezed, ‘I can taste it.’ She laughed with Soi Fon.

Gin’s name was called and Soi Fon’s next words were shushed. Gin was at the gate, wearing a green vest and waving warmly at the cameras. He looked just like himself, relaxed, completely at ease and with that hilarious long grin stretching across his face.

It was amazing how much the sight of him grounded her, how much caring about him made her own fears and pressure, disappear. Rukia focused on him even when the camera cut to the next person and their country was displayed (Australia, _smashing!)_ she looked at the tiny dots in the distance and focused on his.

Then they were off, and the tiny dots were suddenly flying down the hill, around corners and over jumps. One man went down, and Rukia glanced at the screen to get a closer look, feeling significantly better when she recognised the colours from Germany and not Ireland. The top three from this round would be moving into the next and one of the boarders from the USA used his goofy footed stance to gain the upper hand at one of the corners, slipping him just ahead of the other 4, but they were hot on his tail. Rukia’s fingernails were digging into the palm of her hand, her eyes not blinking even for a second.

Gin was in 3rd but it was close between him and the Australian. Rukia tried to keep her mind focused on the competition and ignore the way the uniform of the Australian athlete kept catching her eye. She was drawn to those off green and yellow clothes like a moth to a flame. The athletes went over a mound and Gin kept his board close to the snow, not gaining as much air as the smaller Aussie and it put him significantly ahead.

‘Yes!’ Soi Fon, Rukia and Rangiku exclaimed in unison, all of them spotting his tactical advantage. The American athlete may have used his goofy-footed stance to gain the upper hand, but Gin was better at those bumps, his tall height supplying him with extra body weight that helped keep him lower to the ground when he needed to be.

Rukia wasn’t even aware of when they’d stood up, but she was on her feet with the other women cheering loudly for Gin. Three figures leapt over the large final jump, Gin coming down low to land before the Aussie and slipping right into second. The American came first, with Gin in second and the athlete from Australia behind him in third.

The three girls roared their approval and Gin waved up at the stands from where they could now make him out on the ground. It was easy to tell his vivid bright lime green from the Australian colours.

‘Do you know that guy?’ Soi Fon asked Rangiku.

‘Yeah I do, Jeff Williams or something his name is,’ Rangiku grinned but as Rukia watched her eyes only seemed to be for Gin. 

Rukia tuned out of the rest of their conversation as she waved once again to her lanky best friend and watched as he was led through the archway. He was cleared to go into the next round and made his way with the others to the snow bikes that would take them back up the mountain toward the start of the track. She could feel the nerves in her stomach ease a little, he’d gotten through his quarterfinal round, next would be the semi-final then, if he qualified, the final.

Rangiku started chatting about the layout of the course compared to others she’d ridden on herself. Rukia felt her muscles slowly relax, unaware she’d had them tensed in response to potentially hearing Toshiro’s name.

It helped, Rukia realised, having Rangiku as a distraction. Was that strange? Having someone so close to the person you cared for in your presence? It wasn’t a direct substitute but for some reason it gave Rukia the feeling that Toshiro was closer than he was and that seemed to ease her stomach.

Rangiku told them a funny story about going down the course with Nanao and them getting banned for using the sides of it as a twerking platform. Funnily enough as she described it Rukia was sure she remembered seeing it on the woman’s Instagram but decided not to comment on that. She didn’t want Rangiku to think she’d stalked her.

Then Rukia’s ears perked up, Coyote Starrk was the guy from USA who had beaten Gin in the quarter final run. The man who rode goofy footed and was able to sneak through corners that the regular riders struggled against amongst each other. As they flew down the mountain, Starrk was fast, he used his advantage where he could but he was no match for the Swiss boarder Ulquiorra Cifer, who, according to Soi Fon was likely to win the event.

Rukia knew the names, because she always watched Gin’s events, but most of the time when Gin was put out, she’d stop watching, only having watched in the first place to support her friend. These guys were the real deal and the biggest threat in the competition. The next round was the Semi-Final and now only 2 people would qualify into the final race. 3 Races would run, each giving 2 qualifiers and they’d make up the last 6 athletes to ride in the final.

‘Ah no, Gin’s up against Vega and Gilga,’ Soi Fon prattled off the names and Rukia watched as they were announced. Ggio Vega from France was a name she recognised that Gin had spoken about just before his heats. Rukia instantly narrowed her eyes at the man in the blue bib, she did not like him. Nnoitra Gilga was from Italy and was beaming and waving at the camera, then the screen showed them Gin’s nervous looking face. He was dusting snow off the lower part of his trousers before straightening up and grinning, but his grin looked off, it looked more like a grimace.

‘What’s wrong?’ Rangiku asked suddenly, spotting the same look on his face and Rukia had to wonder how many times the woman had seen that same look in his face before. ‘He’s nervous?’

‘Yeah, that’s his nervous face,’ Rukia sighed, of course Rangiku would be familiar with that one.

‘I wish we could be there beside him,’ Rangiku said it so quietly and when Rukia turned to her she studied the wishful look on her face, so full of care it looked like it didn’t belong. Rangiku’s features were so pristine that nature should have coded only sexy looks, but what she demonstrated now showed Rukia that there was so much more to her, so much more to her relationship with Gin. Glancing back up the mountain to where her best friend was and stealing a glance at the TV as the athletes were told to prepare themselves, Rukia felt that twisting sensation in her chest again.

That aching loss.

It consumed her, making the hollow feeling in her chest return.

The feeling was so awful that it stunned her for a moment, and she missed the start of the race. When her eyes refocused on the screen they were already hurdling down the mountain, coming up for the first turn. A snowboarder from the Netherlands cut across the path of another, his board catching the others and sent them tumbling, but because they sprawled out in the snow, they took Gin and Gilga with them. The guy from France, Vega, blew passed them and after the short few seconds it took for Gin and Gilga to right themselves Rukia could already tell it was too late for them to catch up with him.

Vega was going to claim 1 of the qualifying spots, which left just 1 available for Gin. Rukia held her own gloved hands tightly, trying to ground herself. She had no other source of comfort right now.

How could she console Gin when she couldn’t even get herself together?

Rangiku was the first to start up the chorus of cheering Gin on, Soi Fon joined in next but Rukia remained silent, her throat felt like there were hands clasped tightly around it. Vega made it over the finish line without competition, cheering and whooping as he did so. The final hurdle saw Gilga ahead of Gin, though he did stumble when his board hit the compacted snow on that final jump. He crossed the line ahead of Gin and that was it…

It was over. Gin had not qualified for the final.

Rukia felt all the breath leave her lungs and the sounds of Rangiku and Soi Fon’s disappointed sighs beside her. When Rukia turned to glance at them, Soi Fon looked pissed off, ready to chew out the kid who had taken down all the other boarders by his stupid move, but Rangiku was touching the broach on her chest, a broach Rukia recognised at once as the one Gin had given her.

‘Oh well,’ Soi Fon said with a sigh, ‘at least we have alcohol.’ She took the flask from Rangiku and took a deep swig as they watched several people stand up around them. There was to be a break before the final round, and it seemed obvious that Rangiku and Soi Fon were going to stay to watch it.

‘Gin did really well,’ Rangiku said with a nod of her head, she looked sad for him but pleased too. She plucked the flask from Soi Fon’s hands and smirked at the small Irish woman.

‘I got poor Toshiro legless last night,’ Rangiku said and Rukia winced instantly, her entire body going rigid and a pain in her chest like Rangiku’s words had physically cut her.

‘How legless?’ Soi Fon asked with a laugh.

‘I think he passed out,’ Rangiku chuckled and Rukia could feel her eyes on her face, she was looking to see Rukia’s reaction to this information. But Rukia was already up and out of her seat, barely registering the next lot of words from Soi Fon’s mouth.

‘Did he do a regret shag?’

It was clearly meant to be a joke, but in horrible taste. Rukia stumbled away from them, only vaguely aware of Rangiku calling her name.

Rukia’s body was in a numb sort of trance. The alcohol she’d consumed making her feel ten times worse. The pavement swam before her eyes and Soi Fon’s words ringing in her ears. She’d not stayed to hear if they were true or not but a huge part of her was simply hurt at the thought.

Before she knew it, she was standing outside the athlete’s bar. Her body aching for a hole she felt the need to fill, anger she needed to take out on the world and Rukia knew of only one way she could stop feeling _anything._

The dark-haired guy was on duty, searching bags before athletes were allowed into the bar. He heard Rukia’s approach and glanced up. 

‘What’s up?’ he asked, giving her a grin.

‘Fancy coming back to my room?’ Rukia asked bluntly and he blinked for only a second before he nodded his head.

He said something about his name being Jacob and seemed to be doing his best to make conversation with her as she led him off in the direction of her hotel. At the back of her mind another part of her was screaming, what the fuck was she doing? Rukia could barely put one foot in front of the other and that alone was taking all her conscious effort as they made it inside the building. Jacob realised that she wasn’t in the mood for talking, each time he tried to strike up a conversation, Rukia gave him a one word answer.

She was too intoxicated for this, she knew that too, but that didn’t seem to be stopping her. 

‘Are you okay?’ Jacob asked his brows furrowing in concern. Rukia simply nodded, choosing not to disclose the tightness in her chest or throat, or the fact that she could barely think straight. If Toshiro had hooked up with someone else, then so could she. 

Jacob was cute, his dark wavy hair reminding her of bedhead. His eyes were dark and full of desire for her, but he didn’t have the raw devastating sex appeal that was Toshiro Shiba.

Every time Rukia thought his name it sent a pang through her chest, like her heart was trying to reboot itself by sending electric pulses through her system. But her heart was on lock down now, she couldn’t trust it to lead her anywhere that didn’t end in pain. Without thinking anything more than getting her fill she whirled around and pushed Jacob up against the bedroom door the moment it was shut behind them. Their mouths crushed together, and he let out a low throaty groan. His taste was off, clean, but off.

It didn’t taste like home.

It didn’t taste like Toshiro.

Once again, Rukia pushed the thought from her mind as she brought his lower lip into her mouth and began to abuse it, her hand tangling into the hair on the back of his head. This hair wasn’t as thick as Toshiro’s.

Toshiro, who had publicly hurt her. Toshiro, who had gone off to get drunk and do goodness knows what instead of coming to console her… to chat to her, to fight for her. Rukia could feel the anger bubbling inside her, the tears threatening her eyes.

Well, she could hurt him.

Rukia growled and fisted her hand in Jacobs jacket pulling back to see the extremely dazed and flushed look on his face as he leaned forward instinctively chasing her lips.

‘On the bed,’ she instructed. Rukia pulled her phone out of her pocket. He’d kicked off his shoes and jacket and twisted to face her as she crawled on the bed beside him. If Jacob noticed her phone in her hand then he didn’t say a thing, but his lips were on the tender skin of her neck the moment she was within reaching distance. Rukia brought her phone up and snapped a quick picture. Jacob didn’t seem the least bit perturbed as she turned the picture into an Instagram post and sent it off, tossing her phone to the other bed of the room then twisted to lock lips with him again.

She could hurt him, the way he’d hurt her. The anger for everything, her silver medal, her brother, how things had gone with Toshiro was beginning to bubble over. Rukia wanted to be done with them all, and despite the logical part of her trying to fight its way through the haze, she did her best to continue.

In the confusion that was her mind, Rukia somehow ended up on her back, her t-shirt bunched up her chest as Jacob explored her abdomen with his lips. Rukia could feel the hot prickling anger behind her eyes… it was getting harder and harder to keep the dam back, to stop it from breaking. The drag of Jacobs stubble was uncomfortably and made her skin prickle with distaste.

She felt wrong.

For the first time ever in her sexual experiences, she felt wrong. This felt wrong.

Before Rukia could stop it, the tears had spilled over the edges of her eyes and it took Jacob only a second longer to realise what was happening.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked, his head rising to spot the look on her face as she wept as silently as she could. 

‘Yes,’ Rukia lied her voice steady despite the tears, but he still seemed to falter and then she felt his fingers press lightly against one of the bruises that Toshiro had left against her thigh.

‘Something’s wrong,’ he said sitting back, ‘I knew something was up, you’ve been uncharacteristically glowing every time I’ve seen you here except from tonight.’

Rukia couldn’t reply. She didn’t trust her voice to remain as collected as it had the first time she’d responded. She felt more tears slip from her eyes and then she felt her t-shirt being pulled back down over her stomach. Jacob sat back on his haunches on the bed and it was clear he wasn’t going to continue.

It took Rukia a lot longer than she’d like to sit up, when she did, he handed her the tissue box from her bedside table and she gave a shaky laugh.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said feeling like a right idiot. The alcohol was only numbing some of the feeling but deep inside it felt like a piece of her was broken, a record scratching the same part of a tune over and over again with an ugly jolt in the music. 

‘Whatever happened with him,’ Jacob said moving to sit on the edge of the bed now, a respectable distance away from her, ‘I bet it will pass.’

It was clear who he was talking about, they both knew that.

‘I don’t think it will…’ Rukia breathed sadly.

‘You like Toshiro Shiba, that much is obvious and it’s clear he’s completely smitten with you too. I’ve read every article, seen every Instagram post.’ Jacob replied proudly.

‘You’re not in charge of the RukiaFansOfficial Twitter and Tumblr accounts are you?’ she asked raising an eyebrow at him and attempting to lighten the mood. It worked, he laughed and Rukia felt a little lighter for it. 

‘No I’m not,’ he chuckled.

‘I’ll figure out who it is one day,’ Rukia sighed with a shake of her head. The emotions in her chest seemed to pulse against her ribs, they felt different from this new sitting angle.

‘I do follow them though, they’re the reason why I ship you with Toshiro so much.’

‘Not you too,’ Rukia buried her face in one of the tissues. His words thrust bittersweet memories back into her mind and her head swam with them. 

‘Sorry, but he’s just… he’s cool you know?’ Jacob shrugged, ‘he’s attractive, seems like a nice guy and he snowboards which has gotta be one of the coolest sports on the planet.’

Rukia felt her lip twitch at the reminders, Jacob sounded just as smitten with Toshiro as she was.

‘Maybe you should date him,’ Rukia huffed and Jacob slid off her bed reaching for his shoes.

‘If you don’t maybe I will,’ he fired back and Rukia didn’t stop the light laugh that fell from her lips at that. Jacob was cool… in fact if she hadn’t done what she’d just been about to do, she’d have said they would have made good friends.

‘I’m sorry I dragged you into this,’ she said as he pulled his jacket on, ‘thanks for…’ Rukia indicated with her head and he seemed to understand. She was thanking him for not staying, thanking him for understanding and not taking advantage of her in her weakened emotional and drunken state.

‘It’s okay,’ Jacob shrugged and eyed her one final time, ‘are you going to be alright? I can go and try and find Gin or your coach?’

Rukia flinched at the names and shook her head.

‘I’ll be fine,’ she assured him.

‘Alright, lock your bedroom door behind me, make sure you’re safe,’ he said and Rukia smiled at him, standing to walk him to the door.

‘You’re a surprising man, Jacob,’ Rukia complimented him as he took a step outside. He turned beaming to her, ‘turning down sex.’

‘Sex is only good if it’s consensual between two parties, and I can smell the alcohol on you. It wouldn’t have been right to take advantage, plus,’ he ran a hand through his dark hair, looking a little sheepish, ‘I’m a little nervous.’

Rukia got serious Gin flashbacks, and smiled kindly at him, ‘A lot of guys get like that, but seriously, thank you.’

Jacob smiled, his eyes glancing over her one last time then faltering, ‘are you sure I can’t get someone, even your roommate?’

‘No, honestly,’ Rukia shook her head, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her. 

He left with a wave of his hand and Rukia shut the door, listening as the automatic lock did the job for her.

The sound in the room was deafening, she could hear nothing, but the blood pumping passed her ears and she took a deep steadying breath to try and calm herself. Then the tears were streaming down her face again and this time she didn’t stop them. The emotions crashed over her, the dam finally breaking. Gritting her teeth she let her blurry vision flutter around the room and settled on the desk where her medal was. She walked over, pausing to glance at her dishevelled face in the mirror above it.

“‘It’s about time those cracks gave way,’” Byakuya had said yesterday. It was harsh, the words cutting her deeper than most. It had been the exact same thing her sister had said to Byakuya years ago during a particularly heated discussion. It had been the only thing her sister had ever said that Rukia didn’t agree with, she didn’t like how her sister had behaved during that particular argument, but she knew that she was hurting from the loss of their parents.

Grief made people do crazy things.

Rukia stared at her reflection, her eyes travelling down to her silver medal where it gleamed stone cold on the table, showing a different angle of her reflection than the mirror above.

‘Stop caring,’ Rukia whispered to the room, taking a deep breath and fighting back the tears, ‘stop caring about your reflection so much because it won’t care about you.’

Needing air, Rukia walked over to her balcony and threw the doors open. The snow on her balcony scintillated and for a second the colour reminded her of Toshiro’s white hair. The harsh crisp Swiss air sent a brief shiver of clarity down her body, allowing reason to return to her. Rukia turned the medal over in her hand, barely aware that she’d even lifted it from the desk. It glinted and gleamed and she remembered the morning she’d won it. Ignoring the BBQ in the evening and ignoring her first failed jump, this had been the first medal she’d ever won with Toshiro watching her. The same medal he’d brought his entire country out to cheer her on for. Rukia snorted a laugh through her tears and angrily wiped at her eyes. Rukia took a deep steadying breath and glanced up at the mountains in the distance. She could hear people cheering and shouting, perhaps some kind of competition was on the go… their cheers and laughter, though loud, sounded so far away, like she was listening to them underwater. She felt disconnected from reality. The weird pliant, inhuman feeling of consciousness returning while slowly becoming sober was crashing over her.

Rukia let her eyes wander over the Olympic Village and wondered, wondered where Toshiro was at that moment and what he was doing. If he was hurting as badly as she was or if he’d already moved on and forgotten everything?

Rukia turned, closing the doors behind her and locking out the frigid air, her medal was dumped back on the desk and she peeled back the covers to curl up under them.

At times like this, when her mind was a mess with emotion, she’d go to her dancing studio and dance or go to the ice rink and skate. But here she had neither of those to distract her, she couldn’t even go through with having sex to take her mind off things. The Olympics had ruined a lot of things for her. Instead she had to sit here and endure the emotions, go through the rollercoaster of her heartache alone…

_Alone._

Because she’d literally chased away every single good thing in her life, except Gin and she couldn’t even be there for him tonight, on a night when he’d need her to get him drunk.

Fuck, why did she fuck up literally everything she touched? Why did everything she’d encounter turn to shit in her palm?

_Because you’re selfish._

The voice at the back of her mind caused her to flinch. But it was there, reminding her she was going to die alone, that her records would be forgotten that her gold medals would be displayed in a museum along with all her failures. How could Ireland be so proud of someone so narcissistic?

Because it was true, if she were really looking back on absolutely everything that had happened over the past few weeks, she was selfish. Rukia couldn’t stay to the end of Gin’s race and be there for him, she’d run off to get her own fix. She didn’t once ask Byakuya what was going on, if he was ill or if something else was wrong because she hadn’t cared enough to ask. Rukia hadn’t said a word to Toshiro, begged him not leave because he did mean something to her because she was put on the spot and her pride had stopped her. She hadn’t checked in with anyone else… not the other Irish athletes or their coaches to even just ask how they were doing because she was so self-absorbed.

It was almost a relief when she realised this, the feeling was so obscure it cut through all the other emotions that were trickling, in the form of moisture, from her eyes. If it was her pride and her selfishness that was preventing her from having people in her life that loved her, then she could fix that. Rukia could rip down her pride, build bridges and try to make amends, or vow that from this point onwards that other people would come before her.

Rukia would use Toshiro as an example, someone who literally put everyone in his life before himself. He was surrounded by so many people who cared for him and loved him and that was the reason for it. He was loved because he was loveable.

Despite the sob that raked her body at the thought of the white-haired snowboarder, somewhere in amongst all her thoughts, Rukia drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

Dawn brought a stillness that Rukia relished in for a few short moments. She’d seemed to cry the worst of her emotions out through the night and that comfortable numbness had returned to her.

The only feeling left in her body, other than dull aches of muscles was hunger. Rukia realised she’d barely eaten the day before. As Rukia twisted in her bed, a new feeling struck her, a distant pounding of her head and a dryness in her throat.

‘Oh,’ she groaned as the room swam. She lowered her head back down onto the pillow and waited for the room to stop spinning.

As she lay waiting for the world to catch up, her thoughts strayed to everything that had happened over the last couple of days. Rukia could feel the fear for her brother bubbling at the back of her skull, her anger toward him and Toshiro but the numbness seemed to lay all silent and calm so she could observe her thoughts in a new way.

Rukia had changed. Her run in with Jacob had proved that, and now if she wanted to survive, she had to adapt. Her old lifestyle could not sustain the things she quenched for. Rukia realised with a pang, how much she’d grown at this Olympics, how much Toshiro had taught her.

It was time to take a step in a more positive direction, starting with Gin, because she couldn’t do this alone. Rukia pulled back the covers of her bed, moving slowly and eyeing Soi Fon’s sleeping lump on the other bed. The other Irish girl didn’t stir and Rukia waited only for a moment while her head stopped spinning before she moved off into the bathroom to get showered and ready. 

Rukia decided to get Gin food. His competition was over and that meant he was in a similar boat to her, allowed to eat some things away from his strict training diet. The hall for athletes served mostly healthy foods, but due to the fact there were a lot of non-athletes around, it wasn’t the only place to eat. Rukia ventured out into the frosty Swiss air and off in the direction of the regular village for people who had come to watch the athletes. A lot of the burger vans were just setting up, getting ready for the breakfast rush and a few of them did a double take when she asked for the first order of the day.

Once Rukia had the food tucked in packages safely in her arms she walked back toward her hotel, unable to stop from glancing at the other hotel on the way back. Toshiro had his final that day and she hadn’t decided if she was going to go and watch it in person or watch it on the television instead.

Rukia regretted her third glance in the hotel’s direction, because there he was.

Toshiro was wearing his workout clothing, his phone in front of his face and a look of total concentration etched on his features. Rukia stopped in shock, her foot paused halfway on its descent to the pavement. It was amazing how much seeing him affected her. His hair was blinding in the early morning sun, dazzling just as much as the snow around them. His large eyes gazed intently down at his phone then his whole body froze like someone had just dumped an ice bucket of cold water over him.

Rukia watched, as his face seemed to crumple and a look of total devastation washed over him. In the time it took for Rukia to blink he’d whirled around, his phone shoved into his pocket and was marching briskly back into the hotel.

Rukia couldn’t help but wonder what had happened and if she was still on speaking terms with him she’d have chased him down, tried to do anything to get that look off his face. Whatever had caused it had obviously been very painful for him and Rukia wished she could make it better.

Despite herself, she stayed outside the front of the hotel for a while, until the frosty air began to nip at her nose and cheeks. She’d waited to see if he would re-emerge and if he did, would she be brave enough to talk to him? The tightening in her throat was all the answer she had to that so instead she turned and fled the scene heading off in the direction of the hotel and Gin’s warm bedroom.

Rukia didn’t pause to consider that maybe Rangiku would be in his room with him, or that maybe he’d gone off to hers and Ichigo and Renji were in the room. Instead she raised her hand and knocked loudly on the door. There was none of the usual signs from outside to suggest someone was getting busy inside, so she felt brave enough and knocked again.

‘Aye, aye,’ Rukia heard Gin’s voice and then he was in the doorway, his face a mask of shock and then he turned leaving the door open. A feeling of dread passed over Rukia, but she took a step inside and closed the door behind her anyway.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t come and see you yesterday, but I brought breakfast as a peace offering?’ Rukia mumbled stepping forward and placing the packages on the desk. From their shape and smell alone he could obviously tell they were breakfast burgers.

‘Yeh missed ah heck of ah celebration party last night,’ Gin said.

‘Celebration?’ Rukia asked pausing.

Gin snorted, ‘Jesus ah knew Ran had said yeh ran aff but ah still thought maybe ye’d hear aboot it.’

Rukia blinked dumbly at him, it was clear he was angry and pissed off with her but there was something else in his body language, something definitely non hostile. He straightened up and from his bedside table lifted something heavy.

The fabric hung lose between his fingers, the red and white ribbons of the Swiss flag colours flowing down beautifully and tied to an ornate bronze Olympic medal.

‘What?’ Rukia asked, her whole being going into shock. He’d crashed! He’d not made the qualifying for the Final!?

‘Gilga crashed really bad, he finished tha’ run ahead eh me, but they had tae take him away tae hospital after tha’. Ah got bumped up intae the finals an’ ah came tae try and see yeh before it but Ran said ye’d ran aff somewhere… Rukia, please tell me ye didnae?’

The pleading in his voice caused Rukia to wince with guilt and he sighed loudly sitting down on the bed.

‘Ah saw the picture this morning but ah didnae hink… ah honestly didnae hink ye’d be tha evil.’

Rukia flinched again and slowly shook her head.

‘I didn’t, I couldn’t go through with it, I didn’t- wait, what picture?’ Rukia blinked at him and Gin gave her a searching look.

‘How much had yeh had tae drink?’ he asked as he reached for his phone. Rukia frowned, she hadn’t drunk that much, but then again, she was on an empty stomach and full of apprehension. The adrenaline obviously mixing with the alcohol she’d consumed.

Gin held his phone up in front of her face and she flinched at the sight. She’d barely remembered taking a picture with the guy last night but thought she’d just added it into her Instagram stories to be gone after 24 hours. Rukia hadn’t realised she’d uploaded it to the main page of her account. She took the phone from his hands and quickly scrolled through the comments, there wasn’t a single nice comment there.

Most of the comments were heartbroken fans of the RukiShiro ship including a few big named celebrities… even legendary Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov, her brothers favourite ever figure skater, had weighed in his heart break on the topic. Chris was devastated and even a few of her more notable fans were struggling to stand up against the backlash of this one.

Rukia flinched again, she deserved it all, every single bit of it.

‘I deserve all these comments,’ she said out loud handing the phone back to Gin and pulling her own from her pocket. She quickly set about taking the image down but knew that it wouldn’t undo the damage that had already been done.

‘Aye, ah have tae agree with yeh there, what the hell were yeh thinkin’ Rukia?’ Gin scolded her lightly and Rukia sighed. She knew she’d messed up badly when Gin was disappointed in her, he was a hard man to disappoint because he only ever wanted people to be the best versions of themselves they could be.

‘I wasn’t thinking, that’s the problem, I should have been there for you. I’m so sorry Gin I am such a shit friend, I should have been there for you win or lose…’ she glanced up at him and could tell by the tick of his lips that she was already forgiven. Rukia didn’t deserve his friendship, Gin was too pure for this planet.

‘Apology accepted,’ Gin nodded his head.

‘Now tell me what happened, how did you win Bronze?’ Rukia picked the first burger her hand touched and tossed it to him. He caught it and bounced excitedly on the bed.

He started with a breakdown of the moment he went to speak with Rukia, Soi Fon and Rangiku only to discover that Rukia had taken off. An official member then came over and explained that Gilga had been taken away to be checked over at hospital bumping Gin up into the finals. Gin had a rough idea where Rukia had vanished and it seemed to rile him up.

‘All ah kept thinkin’ was how stupid yeh were bein’, how stupid Toshiro was fir not speaking tae yeh away fae everyone, tae be honest, ah was just mad at everything.’ He laughed and Rukia swallowed against her guilt, forcing herself to even just eat a couple of mouthfuls of food.

‘Apparently rage was exactly whit ah needed,’ Gin smirked at her, ‘in the finals ah was ruthless, ah took mah anger out on the other boarders, cut across paths ah normally woulda held back oan, ah really pushed myself an well…’ he gestured again to the bronze medal on the side table.

‘I’m so, so proud of you,’ Rukia grinned at him, ‘and I’m so sorry, I missed the medal ceremony and everything Gin, I’m such a shit friend.’

‘Yeah, yer pretty crumby Rukia,’ he scolded lightly but there was no real bite to his words.

‘I’m going to change,’ she nodded, ‘I need to, I know that now. I’ve become so self-centred and that’s not the woman my sister raised. I want to suck all the poison out my life and replace it with people who matter.’

Gin reached out for her and pulled her into his arms. Rukia blinked in surprise and then wrapped hers tightly around him.

‘Where dae we start?’

\------

After speaking with Gin, Rukia had decided to start with her brother.

Byakuya was the next most important person in her life and though what he’d done had deeply impacted her, Rukia had to believe there was reason. She was still worried and the thought of what might be going wrong with him twisted in her gut like painful boiling snakes.

Rukia raised a shaking hand and knocked on her brother’s hotel room door. There was no answer. They both waited for a while, and Rukia tried again.

‘Maybe he’s goan?’ Gin yawned.

‘Gone where?’ Rukia frowned, pulling her phone out when the door to their right opened.

‘Is it Byakuya you’re looking for Rukia?’ Ukitake asked. The older man was standing in a dressing gown but something about his kind face seemed to elevate Rukia’s worries.

‘What’s going on with him, where is he?’ she asked. Something in her voice, her panic must have shown because Ukitake reached out and pulled her into a comforting hug. Rukia hugged him back, tightly, needing the reassurance.

‘Your brother has had a lot on his mind, but he is fine. I know he wanted to wait until after your Olympic competition to speak to you about everything. He’s away just now, but he will be flying back in time for your Gala-’

‘Flying?’ Rukia pulled herself away from him and glanced up into his lined face.

‘Yes, he will be back in time, I promise. He’s safe, he’s okay, something’s just come up that he’s had to deal with. But he’s healthy.’

Rukia felt a worried weight lift from her shoulders but the sickness didn’t quite leave her stomach. Where had he been? What was he doing? It was clear that Ukitake didn’t want to disclose anything further.

‘He will see you at the Gala skate,’ the sickly man confirmed again.

With a last few words of encouragement Rukia made her way to the rink for her Gala skate practice.

She’d spoken at length around the Toshiro issue with Gin, but no matter what idea they came up with Rukia didn’t feel ready to deal with it. In the end they decided to think on it again after her practice. Skating had always cleared her mind but Rukia felt restless and even as she changed for her Gala practice, she could feel the eyes of everyone on her. The judgemental glances, whispering behind their hands, the things that had never ever bothered her before were breaking through her destroyed defences.

‘Hey Rukia,’ Isane smiled hugely at her, Kiy was busy shooting the Russian girls daggers from across the room.

‘Hey,’ Rukia was aware her voice broke at the end and the smile faltered and slide from Isane’s kind face.

Isane seemed to waver for a moment, looking like she was torn between asking Rukia how she was and knowing that she wouldn’t get much of an answer. Instead, Isane handed Rukia a slip of A4 paper and the smaller skater took it glancing curiously at it.

‘It’s the schedule for the Gala skates,’ Isane informed her, Rukia could see that Isane had a slot and her eyes travelled down the list until she saw her own performance and winced. Beside her name it read the word ‘Maneater’ and she felt sick to her stomach. It was a routine she’d done at the Gala in the last skating season, to nose up her brother and annoy the ISU but now it felt like a horrible routine to do. Rukia was no longer proud of that side of her personality and she wanted nothing more than to be as far away from it as possible. With a sigh she put the paper down on the bench and frowned at the floor.

‘Rukia, I know you probably don’t want to talk about it but I want you to know I’m here if you do.’ Isane said sitting down on the bench beside her and patting her leg lightly.

‘Me too,’ Kiy chimed in nodding her head eagerly. Rukia smiled at them, she wasn’t sure how they could even stick around when the entire world felt like it was against her just now.

‘It feels like the entire world hates me,’ Rukia sighed, vocalising this thought.

‘We don’t,’ Isane said gesturing between herself and her sister.

‘Yeah, you two are weird,’ Rukia smiled at them and they grinned back at her.

‘If you’re feeling so bad about it, what are you going to do?’ Kiy asked.

‘Still trying to figure that out,’ Rukia sighed and Isane leaned forward.

‘Are you going to change your Gala skate in relation to your feelings?’ she asked. Skating their mood was usually how a Gala skate was meant to go, the skaters brought their own artistic flare and style to the ice, either to put on a good show or to show the world how they were feeling. Rukia was feeling nothing like her Maneater performance right now, and it sparked an interesting idea.

It would be too late to put together a routine to try and fix things with Toshiro, to be honest she didn’t even know where to start with him. Rukia stirred at a memory of one of her brother’s performances, one of the ones she’d really loved that he’d done during his final Gala skates. It had been to Lord of the Dance’s “Warriors” and it was a beautiful piece of music with one of his best routines. Rukia had memorised the routine adding her own little spins and twists to make it more feminine.

‘I’ve gotta go,’ Rukia said standing up so quickly the two sisters started in surprise. Rukia left the changing area and made her way down the corridors looking for the sound booth when the very person she was searching for shouted her name.

‘Well if it isn’t Rukia Kuchiki, Queen of broken hearts,’ Chris’ camp voice carried obnoxiously loud down the narrow corridors.

‘Chris,’ Rukia said walking towards him and doing her best to ignore his jibe, ‘just who I was looking for.’

Chris was wearing a pink t-shirt that clung to his body like a sin and a deep V neck that showed off more chest hair than Rukia really wanted to see. He was hugging his coffee cup like it was his life line and the deep dark circles under his eyes told her he’d been having a very good time out on the party scene with the other athletes.

‘Don’t tell me you want me to change your music again,’ he rolled his eyes but smiled good-naturedly anyway.

‘Yeah I do,’ she waited a moment while he choked on the hot coffee he’d just inhaled into his mouth, ‘I want you to change it to Warriors from Lord of the Dance, do you know it?’

‘Please,’ Chris rolled his eyes, ‘this bitch knows his musicals. Of course, I know it. Are you going to change your routine again?’

‘Yeah I am, I know it didn’t work too well last time,’ Rukia sighed and shook her head, ‘but this time will be different I’m doing it for someone else, not for me.’

‘I wouldn’t say it didn’t work well, you landed your jump, did something that will go down in figure skating history and got yourself a silver medal in the process,’ Chris scolded and Rukia smiled sheepishly at him, ‘you’ll always be a legend in this sport, Rukia, even after you’re long gone.’

Rukia felt the heat in her cheeks from his compliments and he smirked at her embarrassment.

‘Now tell me, is this other person a snowboarder by any chance?’ Chris asked and she instantly winced.

‘No, it’s for Byakuya,’ Rukia corrected.

‘Oh dear, our little ship isn’t over already is it?’ Chris looked genuinely upset, ‘I saw your picture from last night but didn’t think… well I just sort of hoped it was a bad prank.’

‘No, no,’ she mumbled shaking her head, ‘it’s a long story…’

Chris gestured her to walk and together they walked through the corridors and up a set of stairs coming out into the rink from the top of the stands. There was a glass room to their left when they entered the arena, the lighting engineer had left a note on Chris’ desk to say he was away to get brunch.

‘Talk to me,’ Chris said closing the door.

Rukia realised when he locked the door that she wasn’t escaping until she’d filled him in, so she did. It felt good to get everything off her chest to someone else. Gin had been a huge help but Chris was completely impartial… though he was extremely bias toward the RukiShiro ship.

‘I think doing a routine for your brother is a great place to start, every time I’ve seen him he seems to be getting worse and worse, what’s wrong with him?’ he asked and Rukia winced.

‘I honestly couldn’t tell you, I’ve not had a proper conversation with him since the big fall out,’ she sighed and Chris gave her a searching look.

‘Well he’s your priority. I know you might not want to think about it, because if it’s serious then it’s going to hurt you to know but you’re all he has, you need to remember that.’

‘I know,’ Rukia let her head fall guiltily, ‘I am going to dedicate this Gala skate to him and hopefully it breaks the ice and we can… we can talk.’

‘I think that’s a good idea,’ he nodded slowly, thoughtfully, still sipping his coffee.

‘Yeah,’ Rukia felt a flash of nerves in her system about all the… emotional conversations she was going to have to have with the people she cared about. Gin was easy to speak to, she’d relied on him so much and he’d seen her in every kind of weak state known to man.

‘Time to suck the poison out,’ Rukia said to herself again. These words seemed to be like a mantra that she was sticking to.

Rukia had to race to get ready to make it on the rink in time, the ISU official who oversaw the event gave her a deadly glare when she finally showed up to the ice. The air around them was pliable with excitement, all the skaters from Ice Dancers to Single to Pairs were here in preperation.

‘The song is from the Greatest Showman,’ someone whispered and Rukia rolled her eyes. Of course, it was… like rubbing salt in the wounds. The Gala skate was meant to be a time for the skaters to let loose, have fun, show off their true colours and let the pressures of the contest melt away. For Rukia right now it felt like hell, mostly because of the glances that were sent her way and of course Toshiro’s sister Yuzu who was pointedly not looking at her.

Rukia realised then that she’d even disappointed one of her biggest fans. Rukia hung her head in shame as the intro music to “This is Me” started and the skaters were instructed where they were to go and what they were to do. The song couldn’t have been more of a kick in the gut if it had tried, because this was the worst possible version of Rukia that she had ever shown, still, Rukia went where she was told, did as she was asked to do. The usual banter that flowed between her and the other skaters was lost. Her charm was gone and at one point she felt the eyes of someone on her face only to turn and see Yuzu pointedly looking away from her.

It would be so easy to skate over to Yuzu, try and speak to her, beg for her forgiveness and ask if she could pass a message onto Toshiro, so why were her legs refusing to take her over to the younger skater? Rukia looked down at her white skates, the lights of the rink dimming and rising in time with the music as their “stage director” took to speaking to the lighting engineer over a walkie talkie. Rukia hung at the side, watching the pairs skate out to a segment of the routine that was completely their own. Rukia had eyes only for Yuzu, she knew that the younger girl wasn’t physically related to Toshiro, because the white haired Shiba had been adopted, but she could see resemblances there anyway. The way Yuzu’s eyes sparkled when she looked at Jinta, the way she casually reached out to him for reassurance and the gentleness of her smile.

Toshiro was there in all of it, and it made Rukia’s heart squeeze painfully in her chest. It was pathetic. They’d known each other for less than two weeks and already he’d created such an emotional turmoil unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

‘Rukia!’ the directors scolding voice cut through her daze and Rukia met Yuzu’s eyes for a second, having been caught staring at the girl before her name was called. Rukia’s head snapped around and the director glared at her and pointed to another bit of the ice. ‘That’s when you enter for your routine. Did you get all that?’

‘Oh um…’ Rukia felt her face flush with embarrassment aware she hadn’t been paying attention at all, ‘yeah.’

The director gave her a searching look, then he sighed deeply and turned away, Rukia met Kiy’s eyes and the girl quickly mouthed that she’d fill her in later. Feeling a bit of relief, Rukia forced herself to focus on the Gala skate again, doing as instructed and plastering a fake smile on her face when she was told to smile.

The whole ordeal had been very exhausting and Rukia was happy when a break was announced. She’d be getting solo practice time for her performance and Rukia sat down on one of the cheap plastic chairs of the arena and tried to focus.

This routine had meant a lot to Byakuya… he’d performed it for Rukia’s sister, the love of his life. He’d done it to try and show off, peacocking for Hisana, but it had always been Rukia’s favourite… Rukia couldn’t stop the smile from twitching on her lips as she closed her eyes, focusing on her blurry memories from all those years ago.

Her sister’s reaction had been priceless and Rukia hadn’t fully understood how much someone could skate with their heart. Despite it being a Gala skate, he’d thrown in all manors of impressive moves, so many of his best triple jumps and combos. Rukia remembered clapping loudly with everyone else when he’d settled into his finishing pose, the entire performance had been emotional. The premise of the song was set from the point of view of the bad guy, the Dark Lord raising his army in a display of power.

Well, Rukia was the bad guy now, so she had a lot more in common with Don Dorcha than she ever could the main hero.

‘Rukia, are you ready?’ the voice of the director asked and Rukia opened her eyes with a nod. He seemed to falter like he’d been on the verge of telling her to sit out, but he stopped, obviously seeing something in her gaze that changed his mind. He stepped back, letting her on the ice while he leaned against the barrier. Rukia didn’t look around to see who was watching but she turned to the director and gave her own insights.

‘One green and one white spotlight,’ she informed him. It was normal during Gala skates for the skaters to be followed by two or three programmed lights for their routines. He blinked and nodded, transferring the instructions through to the sound engineer via the black device in his hands.

Rukia could feel the gazes of the other skaters on her. They knew she was about to skate her emotions and wanted to know what story she was about to tell, who she was going to skate for.

If they were expecting her Maneater performance, they were going to be disappointed. The arena lights remained on so she could barely see the fluttering of the spot lights as they settled on her. Rukia skated out to the centre of the rink, took a deep breath and then the music started.

It should have been scary how easy it was for her body to recount every movement of this routine. As a young girl she’d practiced this routine multiple times, but she’d last danced it over four years ago. For the first half of the 3-minute-long song, there were almost no jumps, instead her performance was full of fancy footwork. The movement of travelling on one leg would look easy to the audience, but to a skater who knew the ice, they’d know how difficult it was to do. Rukia twisted her body for most of her momentum, only putting two blades on the ice when necessary for this first half of the song. Rukia added her own flare into it, keeping her brothers core elements of his routine while intertwining it with her own steps. It was a message, to say that she was part of his life and he was part of hers and she hoped he’d understand it.

The elements she changed from his routine focused on her own love to dance, her footwork drawing inspiration from the Celtic routes of the music and as the music started to pick up speed so did Rukia. It was the first time in the last two days of hell she’d felt free, feeling the bonds of disappointment and guilt break free, her shackles coming loose. Rukia loved the ice, it always seemed to breathe new life and vitality into her.

After the middle eight, the beat of the song became impossibly fast and that’s when she started her jumps. Triple axel into a triple lutz, a combination from hell, then into a loop and as the tempo wound on, she circled around into the centre of the rink. This was the part of the song when the Dark Lords minions wandered onto the stage beside him, allowing him to demonstrate the power and influence he held over his army. Rukia didn’t hold power over anyone, she was completely and utterly alone, but out here on the ice she was in control. Bringing her arms out in a sweeping motion as she skated backwards around the rink. The people in the audience were her army. She lent, in instinct, onto her outside edge, her other leg coming down to impact the ice harshly and she launched herself into the air.

She’d done it so instinctual she hadn’t even thought about it until she’d landed the quad lutz perfectly, her free leg swinging away from the ice and she twisted into a final spin on the ice.

When Rukia finished, she was aware of the smattering of applause from around the rink edge. The Russians were the only ones not clapping it seemed, and now that Rukia looked around her she could see that many of the athletes were sitting in the stands watching her and nodding their appreciation. Even some of the male skaters who struggled with the jump looked impressed at the ease in which she’d just demonstrated it.

Rukia skated to the edge of the rink, breathing heavy but trying not to let the other skaters see how much it had taken out of her to do that routine. It was an extensive routine and one that was considered oddly formal for a Gala skate, but she wanted to do it. It had meant a lot to her brother and sister and so it meant a lot to her.

Rukia exited the rink as the next skater went on, one of the male figure skaters from Thailand. Rukia listened absently to his music, her eyes flickering to the ice to watch his routine as she slowly untied her skates and slipped her feet into her trainers.

‘That was really good Rukia,’ Kiy said and Rukia turned to see the younger girl who was leaning over the chair from the row behind Rukia.

‘Thanks,’ Rukia’s eyes travelled across the rink again, a few of the skating coaches were here, as were some of the family members, but Byakuya wasn’t present. His absence seemed to hang like a weight on her shoulders, pressing down upon her.

She was still so angry with him, still so angry with Toshiro. Though a much larger part of her struggled with her pride, to remind her that she cared for them both and she didn’t want to lose them if she could avoid it. Anger would subside, but loneliness was forever.

Her throat tightened and she could feel Kiy’s eyes on the side of her face but didn’t look at the younger skater. Instead Rukia’s eyes flickered around the rink and settled once again on Yuzu who was sitting beside Jinta. When their eyes met, Yuzu quickly glanced away like she’d been looking at Rukia and had been caught staring.

There were too many emotions to deal with that trying to sift through them all was like trying to skate backwards through snow, blindfolded. It was impossible.

A distraction came once Isane was called out onto the rink and Rukia smiled down to the ice, ready to support her Japanese friend. Isane had gone for something fun and upbeat for her performance, choosing to do a Harry Potter themed skate to a medley of music from the movies. Rukia couldn’t stop the grin that split over her face at the performance, she knew her friend was going to be wearing robes with a little stuffed Hedwig on her shoulder for the actual skate, but here in the practice rink it was just workout clothes.

The little mood boosting performance gave Rukia enough strength to pick herself up and trudge toward the showers to get ready. The hot water cleared her skin and she focused entirely on the task of washing, tying her hair up into a messy wet ponytail when she came out. The rest of the practice was for the people doing their individual skates for the Gala and so Rukia had arranged to meet with Gin to go and watch Toshiro’s Slopestyle final.

Rukia had thought about going in person but she knew that his family would be there along with Rangiku and she just couldn’t handle that right now so instead they decided to go and try and get food while they watched the event in the athlete’s village.

Gin was standing waiting for her outside the rink, his lanky form easily seen from so far away and Rukia made her way silently to his side with her hood pulled up over her wet hair.

‘Ready?’ Gin asked, sounding a lot more upbeat than when she’d last seen him.

‘Yeah,’ Rukia replied and they made their way back into the athlete’s village and in the direction of the large canteen. They walked inside, the warmth washing over them, but the large doors still open to the elements. Dodging the slippery floor signs that had been placed just inside from various people traipsing snow across the tiled floor, Rukia hesitantly glanced around and groaned. There sitting at a table to the back was some of Toshiro’s family, Yuzu and Jinta along with his big breasted Aunt that Rukia didn’t know the name of and Yoruichi, who was Ichigo’s coach.

Gin seemed to hesitate just inside the large canteen, Renji and Soi Fon were sitting chatting amicably with the Australian lot, but the thought of sitting with them and trying to make any level of small talk just unsettled her stomach more. As if sensing this and knowing it was his duty to get more food into her, Gin led Rukia away to a quieter table. It wasn’t as close to one of the televisions as the table that Toshiro’s family and their friends sat at, having obviously secured the best seats in the house for his final but it was better than nothing. From where they sat, they couldn’t hear the commentators but Rukia didn’t need to hear them when she had Gin. Gin, who was an expert in all Rangiku’s events and since the male and female events were the same, that also made Gin an expert in this event too.

Rukia sat down with her food and picked away at it, aware if she didn’t make it look like she was attempting to eat that Gin would scold her.

‘He got way over marked for tha,’ Gin said frowning as the marks came up for one of the competitors who wasn’t Toshiro.

Rukia ignored it, not joining in with Gin’s hisses of pain, or his claps when something bad or good happened, Rukia was only waiting for one person and as soon as the Australian colours appeared on the television, she felt the weight of her emotions tightening her chest again. This time it wasn’t some unknown Australian team member, this time it really was him. His white hair protruded at the back and sides of his helmet and though his goggles had most of his expression hidden from view, the shape of those perfect lips and that defined jaw was unmistakable.

His shoulders seemed slumped and there was no smile visible on the little face that they could see. Rukia’s eyes flickered across the room to his family who were talking amongst themselves and Rukia wondered if they’d noticed the same thing she had.

‘Maybe he’s still hungover?’ Gin asked, sensing that something was off too.

‘Maybe,’ Rukia said, or maybe, like her, he performed with his emotions and right now he wasn’t in a good place.

Run one started and he went down the hill, hitting the railings but faltering as he came off them. Gin kept up a running commentary and when it came time for Toshiro’s first jump, he touched a hand down to prevent himself falling, losing precious speed, that apparently (according to Gin) had him cutting back his final two tricks.

Toshiro hastily unclipped his bindings at the bottom of the hill and picked his board up so that the sponsors logos were clearly displayed to the camera as he waited for his score.

69.11

‘Shit,’ Gin huffed, ‘how come they over scored tha other prick an’ left Tosh high an’ dry?’ he seemed incredibly upset by the scoring but relented reminding them that he still had 2 more runs to go.

Rukia continued to watch the screen, seeing the other athletes going down the slopes but not really caring about them and at the end of the first round of runs Toshiro was in ninth place out of eleven.

‘Next yin,’ Gin nodded his head, sounding just as confident as he had done for Rangiku the day before.

Toshiro’s second run came up. He was just out of shot of the camera, bent down and buckling his feet into the bindings of his board. When he straightened up, Isshin was speaking to him. With a jerk of his hands Toshiro quickly did up the buckle of his helmet like he’d nearly forgotten it was there. Then he was tightening his gloves, and the clips where his feet were bound to the board. It didn’t look like he was really paying attention to Isshin at all and behind him Isshin’s face looked troubled for a moment like he knew this too.

Then Toshiro was taking off down the hill, his first rail looked good, flawless even and Gin commented on that too, next rail he hit swivelling off it and looking much more in control than he had on his first run. Rukia perked up a little, watching the television with more interested and focus now. She maybe didn’t know the name of the tricks, but she could tell that this rail work had been better than some of the others she’d seen. He might even get bumped up into the top five if he kept this up!

Then came the first jump and he landed that flawlessly, Gin cheering words of encouragement that seemed to be echoed by his family across the hall. Then the second jump came and once again Toshiro made it look effortless. Rukia stared in awe at just how much height he was getting and just how fast he seemed to be going. There was no hesitation in his movements at all, it was do or die for him just as much as the athletes in her sport.

With figure skating if you doubted yourself even for a split second then you’d already failed the jump and she had a feeling that snowboarding was similar.

With his second jump landed, Toshiro hit the final rail, nailing the movement with practiced ease and then coming onto the final and largest jump of the course. Rukia hadn’t realised that she was clutching her own hands together, her food forgotten as she held her breath.

Toshiro shot up the jump, rotations in, his snowboard hit the compacted snow and for a moment he seemed fine, but his balance lost and he ended up on his ass sliding down most of the hill before correcting himself.

Hearing Gin’s groan of disapproval, Rukia knew that this had cost Toshiro despite the rest of his run being flawless.

When he waited for his scores at the bottom of the course, Gin quickly explained that unlike in figure skating where a fall didn’t necessarily mean you’d lost a lot of points, in snowboarding any small flaws like that would get you badly down scored.

78.63 was the score that flashed up on the screen for Toshiro and Gin made a noise at the back of his throat.

‘That’s not bad though,’ Rukia said as Toshiro’s name moved right up into fifth place. Toshiro gave the camera a big smile and a thumbs up before he walked away, he seemed at least a little pleased with that performance. Rukia often had to turn away from the screen when his face became too visible, because it sent pangs of pain through her chest. It was easier to watch when he was a fast moving blur down the track.

‘If he’d stomped tha landing then he woulda got a score in th’ late eighties or early nineties,’ Gin said.

‘Wow, they dock you that much?’ Rukia frowned at the screen and Gin nodded beside her.

‘Aye they’re pretty ruthless with it, he’s got one mair chance tae nail it,’ he said.

Gin’s confidence seemed to have fallen short. He didn’t hold the same confidence in Toshiro’s ability as he did with Rangiku.

‘Why were you so confident about Rangiku but you don’t seem as confident for Tosh- him,’ Rukia said gesturing to the TV with her head.

Gin eyed her for a while and then shrugged.

‘Ran is ah veteran, of her sport like you,’ he nodded to Rukia, ‘she’s used tae all kinds eh pressure, this is wee Toshi’s first ever Olympics an’ ah hink the pressure is much mair likely tae get tae him.’

Rukia let those words sink in for a moment, they seemed to fill her with a feeling of dread, and she wasn’t sure why or where it was coming from. Turning her attention back towards the TV as the announcer got ready for the final round. Now the athletes order was shuffling, and they had to wait for a while before Toshiro appeared on the scene again.

During the next lot of the third round, a cloud blew in bringing with it, fresh snowfall. The competition continued and though Rukia couldn’t hear the announcers, she understood that meant they hadn’t deemed it too dangerous. Rukia watched as the skier’s travelled down the sides of the course between every few competitors and checked for any issues that the freshly fallen snow may cause, clearing anyway anything they deemed to be hazardous.

Obviously not seeing any reason to stop the competition carried on. A few of the less experienced competitors seemed to be pulling back their tricks due to the reduced visibility but the major competitors who were really pushing themselves for a podium spot were doing just that… pushing themselves for a podium spot.

When Toshiro came back on the screen Rukia felt that familiar feeling of nerves, apprehension and unease settle in her stomach. The same lurch, like missing a jump on the ice.

Toshiro’s run started strong again, just the same as his second one had. It was clear he was pushing himself to do the exact same routine but this time land everything the way he needed too in order to get into one of the podium spots.

Rukia watched as he crossed the final rail and came up to the jump that had caused him issues before.

‘Not enough speed,’ Gin hissed under his breath as Toshiro took off into the air. Gin sucked in a tight breath, obviously seeing something in those short few seconds that Rukia’s untrained eyes couldn’t. Instead she watched, panic stricken as Toshiro’s snowboard caught the landing at the wrong angle.

It all happened so quickly, his back side of his snowboard caught the snow and he didn’t manage to get his final rotation all the way around. The moment he leaned his weight down onto the tail end of his board, it sprung him back into the air like a spring and Toshiro could do nothing to stop it as he was thrown backwards. The next thing to hit the hard-icy surface of the landing strip was his head, with a crack that Rukia could _feel_ rather than hear, his helmet collided with the icy snow and a piece of it even broke off going flying down the course in the opposite direction.

Toshiro’s body continued its descent down the slope, no one able to stop it as he was tossed like a rag doll, his board the only thing that eventually caught the snow and slowed him.

But he wasn’t moving.

The entire canteen was roaring, noise unlike anything Rukia had ever heard before in her life. It wasn’t until Gin’s arms wrapped around her from behind that Rukia was aware the noise was coming from _her._

She lost all sense of sanity as she watched Toshiro’s lifeless body lying on the snow, the medics rushing out to him. Rukia didn’t even know when she’d leapt from her seat to throw herself at the TV but she could now hear the sound of the announcer over the noises that seemed to be coming from her own throat.

‘-medical experts on site,’ one of them seemed to be saying in English, then the French was back, the language swapping, or maybe Rukia was just losing it.

‘Rukia,’ Gin tried to sooth, but his voice sounded distant, like he was calling at her through a thick snow storm from miles away.

Rukia was gripping his arms tightly, her eyes still trained in on Toshiro’s limp body. Isshin had come down the slope on a board now, clearly the fastest way to reach his lifeless son when Rukia began to sob uncontrollably.

‘No,’ she moaned, ‘not him, I can’t lose him too Gin I _can’t_.’

‘Shhhhh,’ Gin soothed and Rukia was only distantly aware that he seemed to be glancing around them, but Rukia didn’t care, she had eyes only for Toshiro.

The man in question was stirring and Rukia sobbed with relief, her body going limp and Gin catching her in his arms and steadying her on her feet.

Rukia had not blinked once since Toshiro had hit the snow and now that she did, she felt the tears streaming down her face.

Toshiro was being pulled into a sitting position, he still looked like he wasn’t fully back in the conscious world yet. As he sat up his helmet was completely cracked and broken. Another few people arrived on the scene and Rukia recognised the black hair of Karin his sister and felt a little twinge at that. For some reason she felt better that Karin was near him, Toshiro loved Karin, he wouldn’t slip away with his baby sister there.

Then the cameras cut away and Rukia shouted abuse at the camera men in every fucking language that she knew. How dare they? She needed to know! She needed to know that he was okay! Was he going to hospital, what was happening?

‘Rukia,’ Gin hissed in her ear as he tugged her towards the exit, ‘we should go, let’s go and find out what’s going on.’

Yes… yes there was logic there, it was clear that the camera men were going back to focus on their silly little competition instead of on Toshiro’s condition. Rukia needed to know, needed to know he was okay that he was safe and well.

When she finally tore her blurry eyes away from the TV she could see Renji leading the other Shiba’s out of the canteen, likely for the same reason, the same worried look etched on his face.

Rukia almost missed the flash of the camera phones around her as Gin hurriedly removed her from the hall. She felt numb, everything in her body had turned to ice, but this kind of emotional exhaustion brought no relief. It was cold, like her blood was turning frosty in her veins, she felt dizzy and sick at the same time and peeled her gloves from her sweaty hands despite the fact the air was frigid.

Gin led her away as swiftly as he could and Rukia wasn’t even sure where they were going or what his plan was but before she could ask, he had his mobile phone in his hand and cursed.

‘What?’ Rukia asked instantly.

‘Rangiku isn’t answering,’ Gin said hanging up and clearly trying again. Rukia’s legs moved on autopilot, she wasn’t even aware of having the thoughts of wanting to walk, let alone wherever she was walking too. Gin still kept one hand on the lower part of her back, leading her. It took Rukia a while before she realised he was leading them back to their hotel.

‘No,’ Rukia winced twisting away from him, ‘we have to go!’

‘Go where?’ he frowned.

‘We have to go and make sure he’s okay, he’ll be at the hospital, we have to go there!’

Gin pursed his lips and sighed.

‘Rukia, if anyone will be there, it will be his family,’ he was speaking slowly, like talking to a very young child, ‘they probably willnae let someone who isnae his family in tae see him. The best thing we can dae now is tae get intae the hotel an’ keep tryin’ tae contact someone who can give us an update.’

Rukia wanted to argue with him, but she knew somewhere in her fuzzy brain that he was right. She stared up at him and snapped her mouth shut, her shoulders slumping and her eyes filling with tears again.

‘I can’t lose him,’ Rukia whispered, and he reached for her, locking her in a massive hug. Rukia buried her face in his chest breathing in his scent as she let the sobs break over her.

‘Ah ken,’ Gin mumbled soothingly, his hand stroking the back of her head, ‘ah ken, we’re no gonnae lose him.’

‘Promise?’ she asked.

‘Aye, ah promise,’ Gin held her for a few moments more and Rukia realised that he didn’t really care about getting her back to the hotel, he just wanted her away from the canteen area where she’d likely caused a scene.

While they stood there in the cold street embracing, the opening piano beats of “Don’t stop believing” sounded around them and Gin hastily silenced it, raising his phone to his ear.

‘Rangiku?’ he asked and Rukia glanced up at him, trying to read her friends face. Rangiku’s voice could be heard, shrill and a little shaken through the night air between them. Rukia didn’t need to have the phone close to her own ear to hear everything that the Aussie woman was saying.

‘Stable,’ Gin breathed a sigh of relief and then a giant grin lit up his face and Rukia felt like her legs would give out from under her again.

She heard Rangiku say something about a concussion and Gin nodded along with her. Apparently, they were keeping him in the hospital for a while to just make sure he was okay. Most of his family were waiting for him back at the hotel.

Somehow that news made Rukia feel even better. If it were serious or life threatening, surely his entire family would be at the hospital with him?

‘Rangiku’s gonnae stay wi his family,’ Gin repeated information as Rangiku fed it to him, ‘aye we’ll see yeh later, keep us updated.’

Rukia heard the question as Rangiku asked it, picking up on Gin’s plural and understanding right away that it meant Rukia.

‘Aye, Rukia is here,’ Gin smiled down to Rukia and wiped one of the frosted tears from her cheek. ‘We’ll wait fir an update.’

Then he was hanging up. Rukia didn’t care that Rangiku knew she was worried about Toshiro, she didn’t even care what had happened back at the food court, she didn’t care about anything except knowing that Toshiro was going to be okay.

‘Let’s head back tae the hotel. Ran will call us if anything changes but ah think he’ll be fine Rukia, he’s a tough wee cookie.’

‘No he’s not,’ Rukia mumbled under her breath but Gin didn’t hear her, turning to check behind them in the direction of the hotels. There were only a few athletes walking about in the brisk night air between the buildings, none of them paying any attention to the two friends. Gin twisted back and gently began to guide them back toward the hotel.

Rukia had experienced more emotions over the last two days than she’d experienced since her sister passed away. When she thought she couldn’t cope with anything more, more shite got piled on top. Almost at breaking point, she allowed herself to become pliant to Gin’s arms and gave up fighting the waves of emotion that seemed to be rolling through her body.

* * *

**@Toshiupdates** _  
< Video012> !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

**@Ranchanismyqueen _  
@Toshiupdates_** _I know!!! We’re all freaking out!_

**@IrishLass101** _  
Has anyone heard from **@RukiaFansOfficial** !?! I’d have thought they’d be all over this! _

**@Aussie_skigirl** _  
**@Toshiupdates** oooft that was a hell of a fall. Statement says he’s okay though right? _

**@VictorNikiforov** _  
Wishing Toshiro Shiba a very speedy recovery :(  
liked by **@Christophe-gc** and 2,401 others_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice** _  
Did you all see Rukia’s reaction though? <URL> _

**@RukiShiroShipper69** _  
**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice** yeah, I’ve never seen anyone act like that before, her scream is actually heart breaking, anyone who doubts the #RukiShiro ship now needs to watch that video!_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice** _  
**@RukiShiroShipper69** videosssss, here’s another one it’s longer too <URL>   
Retweet from **@Christophe-gc**   
Jesus that’s tragic :(  
Liked by **@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice, @RukiShiroShipper69, @IrishLass101** and 760 others_

**@RukiShiroIsDEAD**   
**_@RukiShiroShipper69_ ** _Didn’t you see Rukia’s Instagram picture? Your precious ship is dead already, let it stay there._

**@RukiShiroShipper69**   
**_@RukiShiroIsDEAD_ ** _Go wank yourself with a rusty nail, no one gives a shit. She took the picture down and sources confirmed nothing happened between them._

**@RukiShiroIsDEAD**   
**_@RukiShiroShipper69_ ** _If you say so (shrug emoji)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always guys please leave a comment with your thoughts and views...
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord then you can do so here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)
> 
> My trello can be found here: https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions  
> Where you can be kept up to date on my writing projects and when the next chapter is due up!


	11. Going for Gold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Front side double cork, backside double cork-’ Rukia tried her best to drone out Rangiku and Gin’s double commentary. Toshiro hadn’t fallen yet and that was surely something! It was clear from his rotations that he was still better than most of the first few athletes who had started the competition off.  
> ‘He’s really quite good isn’t he,’ Byakuya whispered to her and Rukia couldn’t help but laugh at the slight awe in his voice.  
> ‘Yeah he is,’ she couldn’t hide the pride in her own as Toshiro finished up his run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a little late guys! :D :D We had stuff going on but hopefully you all love it!

Art by: Ammsterdamn

\-------------------------------------------------

Rukia tossed and turned through the night, her emotions leading to exhaustion sometime around three in the morning. She’d tried her best to stay away from news sources but most sources hadn’t gone up or hadn’t been translated into English.

When Rukia woke, she felt the need to just double check everything, jumping onto Instagram and the various news sources who had reported the crash. Seeing the images brought back the awful twisting in her gut but nowhere did it say that his condition had worsened. In fact, it looked like he’d even been discharged from hospital late last night. 

Renji had spent the night with Ichigo, likely to comfort him… Renji was very much part of the Shiba family now and Rukia tried not to let the stab of jealousy last for anything more than a fleeting second.

Instead, Rukia took to studing Gin’s face, letting the peacefulness of it relax her until he began to twitch awake, the last of sleep subsiding and one bleary eye opened to fix on hers.

‘Mornin’,’ he said stifling a yawn behind his hand.

‘Morning,’ Rukia replied, her voice felt flat and lifeless and Gin watched her for a few seconds more.

‘How are yeh?’ he asked.

‘Shit question,’ Rukia sighed twisting around and slipping out of the bed, she just felt like she needed to be on the move. When she glanced back at him, he was sitting up, the covers having fallen down his waist and his bare chest exposed to the cool room.

‘Whits the plans fir the day then?’ he asked.

‘Haven’t you got Rangiku’s halfpipe final?’ she asked, trying to remember the days in her head and checking the calendar on her phone.

‘Aye, dae yeh wanna come?’ Gin asked and Rukia froze.

She did want to patch things, she did want to fix things and her reaction to his fall yesterday only helped her realise her feelings further. It was undeniable how she felt for Toshiro, despite the fact she’d tried to sleep with someone else… upon reflection that was not one of her shining moments and she flinched at the memory while pulling on her leggings.

Truth was, there was only one person she wanted to kiss, only one person she wanted to touch and the thought of anyone else was repellent to her.

‘Rukia?’ Gin seemed to be concerned about her silence, prodding gently with his question.

‘Yeah I’ll come.’

‘Toshiro might be there,’ Gin reminded her and Rukia took a deep breath and nodded.

‘I know,’ she said glancing around the room looking for her bra. She usually only just slept in a t-shirt and underwear when she was with Gin. ‘Maybe I can speak to him.’

‘Tha’s ah great idea,’ Gin said quickly bouncing out of bed and throwing clothes around the room as he got dressed.

Rukia tried not to dwell too much on what she was going to do, she needed to do this. She’d won Gin back and later in the evening she’d get her brother back on side too… after her Gala skate… hopefully.

But there was one more person she had to try and win back, that was Toshiro.

Yes, he’d put her on the spot in front of everyone. Yes, she’d been mad at him for it, but she never wanted to know what it was like to not have him in her life. Now that she’d experienced it, a taste of what he was offering, the domestic bliss that she could look forward too and the absolute trust in another human being, she didn’t want to be without it.

_Bet he doesn’t trust you after that Instagram picture though…_

The voice at the back of her mind had her flinching. She’d forever be paying for that mistake. Rukia had tried not to read the articles and comments on the back of that shit show, but she couldn’t stop herself, understanding she deserved every single painful comment and knowing fully well that if Toshiro had run off to spend the night with another girl, she’d have no right to feel jealous or upset.

Quickly pushing that thought from her mind Rukia finished getting ready, tying her hair up and vowing to shower before the Gala Skate that night. There was no point in spending loads of time on her appearance when she was simply shoving a hat and ear muffs on to go out into the cold Swiss air. Rangiku’s final would last between one to two hours for all the women to complete all their runs. Gin and Rukia dressed more for cold comfort than to look good (though Gin did attempt to comb his hair and put aftershave on).

Making their way up the hill in the direction of the half pipe, Rukia kept a string of questions going about the contest they were to be watching. She still couldn’t name any of the jumps and would be relying on the announcers for that, but it helped to settle her nerves as they fell in with the crowd at the base of the half pipe.

Gin had fired off a text wishing Rangiku the best of luck and letting her know he was there watching and supporting her and Rukia pursed her lips as she studied his face.

‘Have you slept with her yet?’ she asked.

Gin spluttered and flushed, quickly glancing around to make sure no one had heard his menace of a friend.

‘Naw!’ he quickly defended, ‘gonnae no be so damn loud Rukia. Ah dinnae hink Russia heard ye.’

Rukia chuckled but dropped her voice as per her friends’ request.

‘Are you going to sleep with her?’ she asked, and he groaned.

‘Ah want tae, Jesus Rukia ah’m human and ye’ve seen her! But ah just… ah dinnae ken, when it happens it happens and ah’m no gonnae push it.’

‘You’ll tell me, though won’t you?’ she asked.

‘Aye, ye’ll be the first tae ken,’ he rolled his eyes but Rukia knew he was telling the truth. She’d hound him for every single bit of detail the moment he finally admitted he’d slept with Rangiku Matsumoto.

The girl in question was spoken about by the commentators but because they were shouting in French Rukia didn’t have a clue what they were saying. Instead she just tried her best to catch the running order and was thankful when a screen displayed it.

As the leader of the round of heats, Rangiku was to be boarding in the final spot. Rukia knew that made sense, but it also meant they had a good twenty or thirty minutes before the woman would be taking her place in the pipe. Using the time wisely Rukia snuck through the gathered crowd and made her way to a food stall, grabbing her and Gin a snack to watch the event with. If they were going to be standing for hours, she’d need some sugar.

‘Yeh’r no gonnae be able tae yer jump if yeh eat all tha’,’ Gin teased and that earned him a sharp elbow to the side.

They ate their food and watched the girls go down the pipe, one of them clipped the lid of the pipe and tumbled down, thankfully she was okay but Rukia felt her chest compress. The articles she’d been looking at that morning had not said that Toshiro was pulling out of his half pipe final the next day, which meant he was likely still going to compete, and this course looked just as dangerous as the slope style.

Gin seemed to sense her tension and nudged her, bringing her back to life. Rukia swallowed the bite of food that had been sitting in her mouth and they continued to wait for Rangiku’s turn as the injured woman was checked at the bottom of the course. Yachiru was the young Kiwi who was Rangiku’s biggest rival. Gin chatted away to her about Yachiru, reminding her of the young girl’s heat run. Rukia remembered it had been close between her and Rangiku and knew that this would be Rangiku’s biggest contender for the gold medal.

Yachiru went down the pipe and her run was solid and clean. Gin became more and more stressed as he watched it. She even threw in some tricks that apparently had never been landed in the women’s competition before, putting her name down in the history books at just 18 years old. Rukia huffed, she tried not to feel too jealous, when Gin explained to her that in the world of snowboarding there were so many tricks, spins, grabs and way you could do a trick that made it your own, unlike the figure skating world where there were only six jumps and no _real_ variation at all could be done to make them a skaters own. It made Rukia feel slightly better.

Yachiru was over the moon with her score when it came through and Rukia felt her heart falter for the Aussie woman who was next up, the Kiwi had managed to score just over 91.89 points.

Rangiku was up for her first run, the woman looking perfectly at ease at the top of the slope. Gin commented on this at the exact same time that Rukia noticed it on the screen. Though they couldn’t see her eyes because of her giant goggles, they could tell from her posture that she was feeling good. Isshin was stood beside her, gave her a final parting fist bump and Rangiku was off down into the pipe.

Rukia noticed then the disadvantage that Rangiku had to Yachiru, she was significantly taller. This meant she had to bend further to get her spins in, unlike Yachiru who was so small she could fit many twists in the air before her board collided with the snow again.

Rangiku’s score came in at 87.91 and she seemed happy with this, beaming and waving at the camera as she walked away to the snow bikes that would take them back up to the start of the pipe.

‘Ah think she kens,’ Gin sighed.

‘Knows what?’ Rukia asked.

‘She kens she probably willnae win gold, not if Yachiru has anymair tricks up her sleeve like she’s already shown us.’

‘She’s fine with that?’ Rukia asked, knowing that Rangiku had been at the top of her sport and unbeaten for about as long as Rukia had been.

‘Aye she seems tae be,’ Gin shrugged, ‘ah think she just wants tae dae her best.’

Rukia nodded and thought of her own silver medal. She knew Rangiku already had a silver, but they’d be silver buddies even if she didn’t win another one here.

‘Maybe she’ll get bronze and she’ll have a medal to match the two of us,’ Rukia said and Gin chuckled under his breath.

‘Guess we’ll see, but ah think if she doesnae get gold she’ll take the silver.’

Gin was sure of this but as the second runs got underway and Yachiru fell on her final trick (not a bad fall, just bum down) then Rangiku came out and slayed hers it shot her score up to over 93 points! Rangiku was back in the running for gold and both Rukia and Gin cheered wildly for their friend.

So caught up in the contest was Rukia that the thoughts of Toshiro and her brother were pushed from her mind. An American girl had scored in the high 80’s but when she went again it wasn’t enough to push her score, that meant by the end of the final round that Rangiku was guaranteed a medal… depending on Yachiru’s run would determine the colour of that medal.

Rukia was gripping her own hands tightly as she stared up the half pipe, even without looking at the television screens she could see the baby pink hair fluttering in the breeze. Then the young eighteen-year-old was off down the half pipe and shooting up out of the walls. Her run was smooth and clean but Rukia could hear Gin muttering about how it wouldn’t beat Rangiku’s… then Yachiru did what was probably the most mental flip that she’d ever seen someone do on a board, it looked awesome but terrifying and people lost their collective shit.

‘What?’ Rukia asked, turning to Gin to translate, ‘what was that?’

‘Well, there are some standout tricks fir snowboarding, not yer frontside 1080’s or yer backside 1260’s or whatever, naw, these tricks are different… yer corks, yer Michael chucks, and…’ he trailed off looking over to where Yachiru was hugging someone. ‘Yer cripplers.’

‘That was a crippler? Has a woman landed one of them before too?’ Rukia didn’t fully understand any of this… Yachiru had already done some tricks in the pipe that day that apparently hadn’t been seen in women’s competition before, but for some reason this one seemed like a bigger deal.

‘Hink eh it this way,’ he seemed to be trying to put it into simple terms, ‘yah know how yeh could have done a quad toe loop?’

‘Yeah?’ Rukia wrinkled her nose at the idea.

‘But yeh wanted tae dae yin eh the harder jumps? Well think eh all those 540’s and 720’s as the equivalent eh the toe loop and salchow, but the corks and cripplers are like the lutz and axels of this contest… they’re worth more because it’s hard tae get the rotations in.’ He nodded to where Yachiru stood and they spotted her score flash up on the screen.

96.84.

Her name appeared at the top of the leader board.

‘The double crippler has never been done by ah lassie before because usually they cannae get the height needed tae get the rotations in. Tha’ was a stellar move an’ well worth the gold.’ He seemed to have resigned himself to the fact that Rangiku likely wouldn’t be able to beat something like that. Rukia politely applauded Yachiru as the woman went to stand at the side beside the USA woman who had secured the bronze medal.

It was still confusing, Rukia wasn’t sure if Gin’s explanation had helped her understand or just confused her more. Still the TV’s were replaying that trick over and over again and the commentators were chatting away happily about it. Rukia supposed that if Rangiku had been working on anything that could beat it, then she’d probably have told Gin. The two of them spent far too much time talking on the phone together for her not to have told him everything she was working on.

‘Crap,’ Rukia sighed and Gin nodded beside her.

‘She still stands ah chance, but she’ll hae tae be flawless,’ he spoke without much conviction.

The cameras finally cut back to Rangiku who was standing at the top of the pipe, her board strapped and ready. She flew down into the pipe.

Rukia watched and listened as Gin called out her tricks, two back to back 1080’s which were difficult for women to do, and to finish things off she’d pulled off another 1080 that had a lot of people pretty excited.

‘Does that help her? Will that win her gold?’ Rukia asked eagerly, not sure for the life of her where the 1080’s stood in respect to that crippler move.

‘It might,’ Gin said quietly.

‘I think Rangiku’s run looked better,’ Rukia huffed, she didn’t have a clue how this damn sport was scored but most of Rangiku’s tricks looked far more complex and she had way more rotations in them that surely it would win overall? Yachiru had one good trick in hers and couldn’t get the height that Rangiku got.

But she didn’t know about the crippler really and how it was scored… was it enough to beat three different versions of the 1080?

Apparently, it was.

Rangiku’s score came in just 0.12 points under Yachiru’s and Rukia huffed.

‘I don’t get this sport,’ she ground her teeth in frustration and Gin sighed.

‘The judges get a lot of stick, the same way they dae in yer sport, it’s no ah first o’er the line ease like it is with mine.’

‘At least each figure skating jump has a maximum amount of points and deductions based on execution.’ Rukia said stiffly, ‘with this it just seems like they make it up as they go.’

Gin laughed at her and they chatted as they waited for the medal ceremony. Despite the fact that Rangiku didn’t win gold, she looked elated with her silver, giggling and chatting happily with Yachiru as they got their medals. The whole scene caused Rukia to smile at them, Rangiku looked ecstatic and Rukia knew she should take a leaf from her book regarding her own reaction to her silver medal.

The longer they stayed, the more nervous Rukia got, glancing over her shoulders every few seconds. She knew Toshiro could still be at the hotel after his fall, but most of the news sources made it seem like he was completely fine when he’d left the hospital. So Rukia had a strong feeling he was here, present to cheer Rangiku on.

‘Yeh gonnae talk to him?’ Gin asked and as he said it Rukia felt a ball of nerves in her stomach. She should have spent the time thinking about what she’d say if she did see him… but she’d been so focused on Rangiku that she didn’t have time.

‘I-’ she started, and her eyes locked onto Karin’s. The woman in question reached out and a hand and grasped the arm of her brother. Toshiro, who had been moving in a different direction was jerked to a stop.

‘What?’ he asked, his eyes finding his sister then following her gaze. His voice sent a chill down her spine, her emotions getting the best of her once again.

Their eyes met, and Rukia panicked.

She wasn’t ready for this confrontation yet.

Without even a second thought she found herself in the throngs of people who were moving to make their way back down the slope from the half pipe. The final was over, and athletes and fans alike were mingling as they took the journey together.

Rukia felt a tidal wave of shame wash over her as she realised once again, she’d run away. Wrapping an arm around herself, just trying to hold the last of her pieces in place she let her eyes skirt the surrounding people.

She could think of a billion excuses, it was too crowded, she didn’t want to talk in front of their family, she had a Gala Skate to think about.

But all the excuses were poor, pathetic. Rukia was absolutely worthless and it showed.

Thankfully her one saving grace seemed to be that her feet knew where to go, somewhere in the back of her mind something was working and taking her in the direction she needed to be heading. When the giant rink came into view, Rukia breathed a sigh of relief. She’d stored her things in one of the lockers instead of taking it all back to the hotel with her, it was just more convenient while the practice for the Gala Skate was happening.

Walking through the building doors and ignoring the eyes that seemed to turn in her direction, Rukia fired an apology text to Gin and asked him to pass along her message of congratulations to Rangiku. He’d stayed behind to see her and Rukia was glad, she’d have felt ten times guiltier than she already did if the man had come chasing after her and missed his chance to congratulate Rangiku.

With slightly shaking fingers Rukia pulled up Instagram and saw all the pictures of Rangiku with her medal. From the position and lighting and editing, most of the pictures currently on her page were done by Gin. As she scrolled down her feed, she finally spotted what she knew she’d been looking for, a picture of Toshiro and Rangiku. He was hugging her, and her silver medal caught the light, her face well above his as she placed her cheek on his head. The image was adorable, clearly taken by someone else and the smile that Toshiro wore looked real, real for his friend. It sent a stab through Rukia’s heart to see it. She read the message underneath.

**@Toshhiba, 13:47pm  
** _Second on the podium but first in our hearts (Australian flag) (silver medal) #longlivethequeen_

Rukia couldn’t help but smile, her finger pausing over the little love heart. With a sigh she locked her phone and put it in her pocket. It would look worse if she’d liked his picture but not even stayed around long enough to talk to him.

When Rukia arrived at the rink the air was cool and welcomed. It seemed to mix with her cold heart. Rukia was one of the first to arrive for the Gala practice, except one of the younger skaters who seemed to be using the rink time before the Gala practice to test one of his jumps. The Chinese boy had come in about 7th or 8th in the men’s final and his coach was calling instructions from the side in rapid Chinese.

Rukia watched them for a while, until the ISU officials showed up and instructed them to clear the ice so they could prepare it for the Gala practice session. More and more of the skaters started to arrive, all chatting amicably with each other, sitting beside each other and every now and again tossing her cautionary glances, like they wanted to include her but were scared. Rukia sighed. She could hardly blame the other athletes for treating her like a ticking bomb because she was one.

After sitting in her own self-loathing for an hour she spotted Yuzu and Jinta make their way into the arena and stood up. She’d always been better walking in skates than she was in high heels and she made her way down towards them.

Starting with Toshiro was going to be too challenging, so Rukia decided to start somewhere smaller. Someone who could likely pass on a message or two, without Rukia outright asking. It may soften the conversation when she finally came to have it with Toshiro.

Hearing the sound of approaching skates, the duo turned around, Yuzu’s eyes went wide for a second before her expression smoothed and she folded her arms. Jinta had an arm around her and he tightened it for a moment whispering something in her ear, after a second Yuzu shook her head and Jinta walked away, ready to give the two girls privacy.

‘Hey Yuzu,’ Rukia said, unsure how to even start this conversation, ‘do you mind if we talk?’

‘Why did you do it?’ Yuzu asked, the question blurting from her mouth like she’d wanted to supress it didn’t quite manage. Once the question was out in the open, she seemed keen to continue. ‘That picture really hurt him.’

The way Yuzu said it, sounded more like the picture had hurt _her_ instead of her brother, but Rukia flinched all the same.

‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, and it felt good to finally apologise to someone properly for her behaviour, ‘I’m really, really sorry Yuzu.’

Yuzu let out a breath, her body relaxing slightly but her arms still crossed over herself.

‘Why?’ she prompted, this time the question was a lot less harsh, open and blatant curiosity at the forefront now.

‘Because I wanted to hurt him,’ Rukia winced again and watched so many emotions flutter across Yuzu’s face, ‘but I couldn’t do it.’

The younger skater’s brows furrowed in confusion at her words and Rukia hastened to explain.

‘I couldn’t go through with it, it was just a picture, the guy left, it was stupid and awful I know, but I just…’ Rukia took a deep breath, glancing around the rink as if looking for the right words. ‘I like Toshiro so much and it hurt when he didn’t give me a chance to explain, when he called me out in front of all those people that night.’

Yuzu’s posture relaxed further, she didn’t interrupt Rukia, letting the Irish skater say everything she needed to.

‘I know that’s no excuse,’ Rukia sighed, ‘it’s a terrible excuse, really, but it’s hard, I’ve never felt this way about someone before, I’ve never felt this level of emotion with anyone and Toshiro just seems to bring out all the worst reactions in me.’

After she’d said it all, she felt a lot better, Yuzu was still watching her sceptically as if trying to gauge if Rukia was being truthful or not, but something in her gaze seemed to let the younger skater relax. Then a smile was gently gracing her features.

‘I’m still so mad at you for the picture,’ Yuzu said, and Rukia nodded, feeling that wave of shame hit her again, ‘but I’ve never seen him so happy before. I’d love it if you two got together.’

Her eyes lit up and sparkled in the arena.

‘You’d be like my sister!’ Yuzu almost squealed the last part and Rukia laughed, feeling herself relaxing further.

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, I still have to speak to him,’ she said, ‘I meant to do it today, but I just ran away… again.’

‘He’ll be coming to Gala Skate tonight?’ Yuzu offered and Rukia flinched at the idea.

‘I think it’s going to take something more, I need to really win him back,’ Rukia was talking mostly to herself now. She realised that she needed something physical… Rukia wasn’t good with her words but she was better with her physical actions. She needed to d _o_ something rather than try to speak to him… when it came to words, Rukia always ran away. The two girls were called on by the ISU officials and Yuzu gave Rukia a fleeting glance but they made their way toward the director who was instructing them into line.

The practice went smoother than yesterdays had. Talking with Yuzu had left Rukia feeling like a massive weight had been lifted off her chest. Her movement across the ice felt freer and she’d gained a bit of her confidence back. Just like old times she started to have some friendly banter with the other athletes, they seemed warmer now, happier that she’d started to open herself back up again.

During their dinner break in the evening when the rink was being prepared for the Gala event, Rukia stretched in a private section for the athletes through the back. She’d been so wrapped up in thoughts of Toshiro that she started when a bottle of water was held out to her and she glanced up to see Byakuya.

Rukia stared at him for a moment, he looked a little better. The deep dark circles were still under his eyes but his skin didn’t look as white as it had the last time she’d seen him. His lips were pursed, and his face held an expression like he was trying to gauge her reaction to him being there.

Rukia smiled sheepishly and took the bottle from him.

‘How are you?’ Byakuya asked.

‘Never mind me, how are you?’ she asked, and he seemed a little taken aback by the question. Another wave of guilt passed over Rukia… had she always been so self-absorbed?

‘I’m fine,’ he reasoned and Rukia let her eyes take in his whole body, he looked like he’d had a decent meal or two since she’d last saw him and made a mental note to thank Ukitake for taking care of him. The other coach was too kindly at times given his own poor health.

‘Did you come to watch the Gala?’ Rukia asked opening the water bottle and taking a drink from it.

‘Yes of course,’ Byakuya nodded his head, sense of duty evident in his voice. Rukia frowned, she didn’t want him to be here because he felt like he had to be. She wanted him to be here because he wanted to be.

Rukia wanted to ask what had been happening, wanted to confront him for the BBQ and apologise for it too, but she knew she wouldn’t have enough time. There was only ten minutes before she’d be called out onto the ice.

‘Watch me,’ she pleaded with him, his steely grey eyes met hers and it looked like there were just as many unsaid words on his tongue as there were on hers.

‘Always,’ Byakuya replied.

Rukia smiled at him then turned, making her way toward the rink. She’d make this the best performance possible, putting as many unsaid things into her routine as she could manage and hope the message came out loud and clear. The anger she’d felt for him at the BBQ had dissipated, the fear that she may lose him had made that squabble seem insignificant regardless of the ripple effect it had had on her personal life.

Things with her and Toshiro were going to crumble no matter what if she didn’t tell him how she’d felt and though she was going to do it at the BBQ maybe she’d not have done it right? Wouldn’t have said it right? Maybe she’d have run away, fear making her stop like it always did.

“What’s for you won’t go by you” the old proverb said, and it was one Rukia believed heavily in, maybe things had to go this way. Maybe she had to have all her bonds ripped apart so she could feel how raw she was without them, so she’d appreciate them more?

When her name was called Rukia skated out into the rink and beamed up at the audience. The costume for her Maneater performance wouldn’t quite fit the theme of this new choice of routine, so Rukia had made the last-minute decision to go with the same black piece as her free skate. The entire rink was packed, people cheering and lots of glowstick lights waving in the darkness. Unlike the main skate events, the Gala rink had all its lights turned off with only the rink lit up, making it impossible for Rukia to make out anyone in the audience. It was just her and the ice.

Rukia settled into her starting pose and took a deep breath, she knew her brother was out there somewhere watching her and it wouldn’t be the first time she’d changed a programme behind his back. A smile played around the edge of her mouth as she thought about that and then the music started.

It was easy to leave her troubles and fears behind on the ice once she started moving, odd how much seeing her brother on the mend had restored a sense of calm to her otherwise frantic mind. Rukia moved, the powerful song contrasting at points with her more feminine steps. She wondered for a second just who else would be watching this performance, Yuzu, Rangiku, Gin… the other figure skaters who had reached out to her, Chris, Victor and maybe even Takahashi himself. With a little flutter in her stomach she realised that it was likely the Shiba family were in the audience too, having come to support Yuzu. The younger skater had already skated her performance but there was still the big final piece from the Greatest Showman that they’d all be skating in once all the single performances finished.

The music began to pick up and Rukia’s movements picked up too, her flow shifting into something more powerful, greedier, she was the bad guy, the Dark Lord of this performance and she knew how fitting that boot was. She’d hurt so many people and at the end of this song she’d be putting that side of her to rest. She’d emerge as someone who was willing to put her heart on the lines for others, someone self-sacrificing, someone that Toshiro could love and someone who could love him.

The final part of the song began to build, and she launched into her quad lutz, the blade slicing the ice upon a very impactful landing, sending shards of ice flying. It wasn’t the cleanest landing she’d ever done, clearly being without her coach and her diet being chucked was showing in her routine, but the audience still went wild regardless. With this music choice the movement almost suited the song and she wasn’t afraid to send more shards flying as she cut more aggressively through the ice.

When the final notes began to play, instead of standing powerful on the ice as the dancer was meant to do during this kind of performance, Rukia slumped, tired and defeated to the icy surface. It was her way of signifying that she’d reached her lowest point. From here there was only one direction she could climb. 

The audience cheered and applauded and Rukia realised that she had gotten more of a reaction from this performance than she ever had from her Maneater one… perhaps that was because she was skating for someone else and the audience knew it. Breathing deeply, Rukia picked herself up off the ice and waved and bowed to the crowd around the rink. Feeling disorientated as she skated towards the exit, she didn’t look up in time to see her brother until she was at the gate. Byakuya engulfed her in a massive hug, clearly not caring that she was covered in sweat. He didn’t seem to have his words together and didn’t say anything to her, just held her as they were ushered off to the side for the male gold medallist to make his way onto the ice for his performance.

Rukia laughed awkwardly, feeling her brother shaking as he held her. It wasn’t a normal comforting hug, it was a bone crushing hug, like the kind of hug you used with someone you thought you’d been about to lose. It wasn’t entirely comfortable either, given how much bigger Byakuya was than Rukia, she genuinely felt like he was going to snap her like a toothpick.

‘Breathe,’ she wheezed, using the last of the air in her lungs for her one word.

Byakuya softened his crushing hold but did not let her go, it took Rukia far longer than it should have to realise he was shaking because he was crying.

‘Is everything okay?’ a concerned staff member asked them as they made their way over to where the two were embraced. Now that Rukia was out of the blaring lights of the rink, she could see the people in the audience, a few of them were watching her and her brother and several them had their phones out recording or taking pictures of the moment. Feeling a stab of annoyance toward them, she grasped her brother’s arms and prised them off her.

‘We’re fine,’ Rukia said to the staff member firmly, ‘Byakuya lets go.’

The staff member seemed to understand and called after her, ‘I’ll come get you when it’s time!’

Rukia didn’t have time to thank them but was leading her hysterical brother through the back. A few of the other skaters seemed a bit shocked to see the coach crying but they scampered from the area to give the two of them some privacy.

Rukia turned to face her brother as she put on her Irish team jacket. He was mopping his eyes with the sleeve of his own jacket and Rukia smiled and handed him her Mr Misoffelees tissue holder. With a wet chuckle he plucked a few of the tissues free and wiped his face. Rukia felt awkward, she wasn’t good with other people crying, she didn’t know what to do or say to make their problems go away.

‘I’m sorry,’ Byakuya said after a moment and took a deep breath, ‘I just, I thought I was going to lose you.’

That thought shocked Rukia. It hadn’t been at all what she’d expected to hear.

‘You thought you were going to lose me?’ she asked, frowning.

‘Yes,’ Byakuya nodded and took another deep breath, ‘I thought that maybe after… what had happened, that was it.’

Rukia sat in silence for a moment, her mind going over everything he’d said.

‘I can’t say that I wasn’t upset,’ Rukia sighed, ‘it felt like you were trying to push me away.’

‘We should have spoken long ago,’ Byakuya shook his head, ‘but I didn’t want you to worry…’

Rukia felt a twisting in her gut as he said it. She knew he’d been keeping something from her, to protect her.

‘Byakuya please tell me you’re okay,’ Rukia could barely control the emotion in her own voice as she turned the full power of her eyes on him. His face was red and blotchy and she’d only ever seen it like that after her sister had passed away.

‘Yes, I’m fine,’ he said and Rukia felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest.

‘What’s been going on then? You’ve had me panicking that you… that maybe you had cancer or something too…’ she hated even saying the word and watched as Byakuya flinched but then shook his head.

‘No forgive me, I didn’t mean… I didn’t mean for you to be led to that assumption,’ he took a deep breath and Rukia waited, trying her best to be patient with him. A few members of staff flitted in and out of the room, as well as a couple of skaters who needed to collect things. They were given a noticeably large berth though and Rukia wasn’t worried about being overheard as the two of them were speaking in Irish anyway.

‘Your sister’s grave,’ Byakuya took a deep breath, ‘some punk kids got into the cemetery and dug entire graves up, destroyed the place.’

Rukia felt her blood running cold, like someone had just doused her in ice cold water. How could anyone be so disrespectful?

‘I asked you to stay away from the internet and give me your phone because I was sure everyone on that damn twitter thing would be sending it to you,’ Byakuya handed his own phone over now and Rukia felt a lump in her throat the moment she saw the image. It was the cemetery where her sister was buried alright. The usually pink wall that circled the outer perimeter was charcoal black with fire damage, huge chunks of the walls had been carved out like it had been attacked with a large metal object. But that picture wasn’t the worst. The damage to the wall had come from a fire that had been set at the ceremony hall, the entire building which was located just inside the walls of the cemetery had been burned down.

Rukia was glad she was sitting, but she struggled to read the article through the sudden rush of tears and emotion she felt as she flicked through the images with shaking fingers.

Dublin Demands Justice

_A shocked city is demanding justice after one of the worst acts of vandalism witnessed in the country’s history. At 03:42am emergency services were called to Donnybrook cemetery where police gave reports that a fire had been started by a group of intoxicated teenagers. The fire quickly grew out of control and despite fire fighters best efforts the building couldn’t be saved. The large number of teenagers, ranging from fifteen up to twenty in age, decided to raid graves, turning over flowerbeds and spray painting tombstones. A large number of graves have been dug up, caskets broken into and even one large oak tree which had been planted in the cemetery since before it was created, was badly hacked by various tools including the shovels used to dig up the graves._

_A spokesman for the police said, ‘we’re deeply saddened by what happened here today. These sleeping souls didn’t need to be disturbed by these criminals and the people involved seem to have no remorse for the impact they’ve had on hundreds of affected families.’_

_The teenagers in question have been taken into custody, there were at least thirteen of them but police suspect there was too much damage to have been done by such a small group and are still calling for witnesses to come forward._

_The investigation is on-going and a number of the people involved have had their names and faces disclosed to the media. Families are being encouraged by the public to press charges to ensure maximum punishment and to deter any future youths from doing such a tragic act again._

_Despite this horrendous act, the entire neighbourhood of Donnybrook have banded together and are even raising funds to help restore the cemetery and aid families who have been impacted._

_The link to the donation page being run is linked below, the target fund has already been reached._

Rukia could barely see when she lifted her teary gaze to her brother. Byakuya was watching her closely, his face still looking just as emotional as hers had been.

‘I had no idea…’ she whispered, and he nodded.

‘Good, then I did my job,’ Byakuya said it with reverence like he was sure he’d done the right thing. Rukia wasn’t so sure, she could barely breathe.

‘And Hisana’s grave?’ Rukia asked, watching as his face twisted with emotion.

‘She was one of the graves who had been dug up, casket broken into,’ he replied and Rukia finally gave into the sob that had been threatening her. Byakuya reached out and pulled her into his chest where she grabbed onto him.

‘Shhhhh,’ he hushed, sounding surprised for her tears. Rukia had been crying a lot lately but prior to that she’d not cried properly in so long, not in front of her brother, not even when her sister passed away. ‘You’ll ruin your makeup.’

Rukia choked a small laugh into his chest but clung onto him tighter.

‘I’m serious Rukia,’ Byakuya said after another few moments, ‘I know you feel like you need this breakdown right now, but you’ve got a Gala to finish.’

Rukia nodded and pulled away from him, she took a deep breath trying to keep her emotions in check as Byakuya took her face between his hands and wiped the last of her tears with his thumbs. His face was so close, she could see the deep shadows under his eyes more clearly, the tiniest of flushes high in cheekbones and his brows furrowed in sorrow and confusion.

‘What’s changed in you?’ Byakuya’s voice blew over her face and Rukia closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. They stayed like that, while Rukia got her breathing under control, focusing her mind away from the horrific news.

‘Him,’ Rukia breathed the answer in response to his question without even fully contemplating it. When Rukia opened her eyes again it was to see Byakuya’s steely grey eyes softened with emotion. He didn’t respond, just kept running his thumb soothingly over her skin.

‘Do you regret it?’ she asked, her throat tightening as she studied the confusion that flitted across his face.

‘Do I regret what?’ he asked.

‘Marrying my sister?’ Rukia’s voice was barely a whisper when she asked.

Byakuya seemed to understand her question. It hadn’t been meant maliciously at all, in fact there was a lot of weight behind what she was truly asking.

Was it worth all the pain? Was it worth everything that had come after her diagnosis? Was it worth how his life had turned out?

‘I regret nothing,’ Byakuya said, his voice sounding thicker, ‘after your performance, I will tell you everything.’

Rukia watched his face as he gave her a sad smile and Rukia nodded her head. It was time, one last time while at the Olympics, to put the mask on and go out to perform.

She took another deep breath and stood up, turned and made her way back in the direction of the changing rooms. There were a few skaters sitting redoing their hair and makeup and changing outfit after their performances in preparation for the Gala finale. Some of them glanced at Rukia as she walked in but they didn’t say anything as she made her way over to the mirror to assess the damage she was working with.

It wasn’t pretty and she flinched as she sat down. Her face was red and blotchy and with a deep sigh she pulled her makeup bag toward her.

‘I guess you found out,’ a harsh voice of broken English spoke to her left and Rukia turned blinking almost stupidly up at the tiny Russian girl. Hiyori stood leaning against the wall to her left, holding out a fresh makeup wipe and looking sympathetically at Rukia.

‘What?’ Rukia’s brain hadn’t quite caught up with the scene in front of her. The Russian girl sighed wearily.

‘About your sister’s grave? I guess we all thought if we played up the rivalry, we could distract you, but when I saw your short programme and then your failed lutz I thought maybe you’d already found out.’ Rukia took the makeup wipe, the cool wet cloth touched her fingers but she continued to stare dumbly at the Russian.

‘You were trying to distract me?’ Rukia asked.

‘Did it work?’ Hiyori smirked, ‘don’t get me wrong I like being mean, but even I’m not usually _that_ mean.’

Rukia wanted to disagree with this but upon reflection Hiyori had seemed to be a bit worse at the Olympics compared to their other contests.

‘I thought it was just because this was the Olympics,’ Rukia mumbled and Hiyori shrugged.

‘Yeah but I still wanted to beat you at your best. You’ve been too distracted and miserable recently, don’t deny it, and I thought if I could present a good enough competition for you, maybe you’d stick around long enough for me to win against you.’ She shrugged, ‘I don’t want to be second best.’

Rukia chuckled and wiped her face with the wet makeup wipe while it was still cool to the touch. The cold moisture did wonders for the heat around her cheeks and eyes.

‘You’ve got like ten minutes before we need to be back on, so get a move on,’ Hiyori said, then said something rude in Russian before walking away from her. Rukia stared after her and saw one of the other Russians offer her a tentative smile as she made her way over.

Rukia smiled back, but her chest welled with emotion again. It seemed the entire skating community had been trying to look after her and she’d not even realised. Even Isane’s coach had taken Rukia’s phone off her at several points while she’d been here… they’d all known.

Rukia wasn’t sure how she felt about that as she put her makeup back on. It could be perceived the wrong way, as controlling but it didn’t feel that way. It felt more like the entire skating community had built a wall around Rukia to protect her from the news… news of something she could do very little about.

Rukia breathed deeply and shoved the thoughts from her mind. After a very quick ten minutes she’d only managed a base layer of foundation and some light eyeliner, but her face no longer looked like she’d been crying. Instead she looked like she’d simply renewed her makeup to something a bit more formal for the end of the Gala.

‘Ready?’ Isane asked her and Rukia nodded, standing in her skates and falling in line with the Japanese girl.

‘Did you know too?’ Rukia asked her Japanese friend. Isane only looked sympathetically at her, but shook her head.

‘I found out after my performance, my coach kept it from me too, knowing that my empathetic nature would hinder my ability… Rukia I am so sorry.’

Rukia thanked her but didn’t get a chance to say anything else, for the walked back out into the rink and Rukia didn’t wish for any stray cameras or ears to pick the conversation up.

The crowd cheered loudly as the rest of the skaters began to make their way onto the ice for their final performance. Rukia stepped on after Isane and instantly felt that freeing feeling of the air whooshing passed her. Her skates greeted the ice like old friends and Rukia took a deep breath of the rink air. The stale smell of moisture, sweat, acrylic and the smell of the lighting equipment was oddly comforting.

She zeroed in on the smell of the lighting equipment, it reminded her so much of the stage where her sister had performed, and as she glanced up she got an odd sense of comfort from the lights that shone down on the rink. A soft genuine smile graced her lips and Rukia bit the inside of her cheek to stop the moisture welling in her eyes again.

Her sister’s place of rest may have been destroyed, but that didn’t matter because her sister had been here with her all along. Rukia blinked the blurriness from her gaze that thought brought and instead waved a hand up to the audience, smiling and beaming.

If her sister was here watching, then Rukia would give her a show worth watching. She’d show her that her little sister had grown up, finally, into a loving and caring person.

The Greatest Showman music rung around the rink and Rukia carried out her choreography where it was expected and broke it with the Russian team when they decided to have a bit of fun against the routine.

As she whizzed by Yuzu and Jinta, Rukia gave the smaller skater a big smile and Yuzu returned it, waving up into a section of the audience. Rukia followed her gaze and though it was almost impossible to see faces, she couldn’t mistake the Australian flags waving in the audience. That was obviously where her family were sitting and Rukia was sure that Gin and Rangiku and Toshiro would be there too.

That brought her thoughts back to the snowy haired snowboarder and Rukia stopped at the side of the rink with a couple of the ice dancers. If there was anyone who could help her win him back, it would be Rangiku and Yuzu, assuming of course, that he even wanted to be won back.

As the music came to an end, large glittering streamers fell from the ceiling and Rukia and everyone else got doused in glittering pieces of paper. She laughed as she tried her best to dust it off her shoulders. Isane was absolutely covered but that didn’t stop her from pointing happily at one of the male figure skaters from Thailand who had skated onto the ice with his phone attached to the end of a large selfie stick. All the skaters gathered into the centre of the ice as the boy moved his phone up into the air. Rukia was ushered to the front because she was so small and grinned up into the camera as the boy snapped a massive photo of all the athletes.

After that the Gala was announced to be over and though a good number of skaters stayed behind on the ice chatting and laughing a few of them made their way to the exit, clearly ready to go out celebrating and drinking.

‘Rukia are you coming out with us tonight?’ Hiyori asked. Isane eyed the Russian girl with distaste but seemed eager to hear Rukia’s response herself.

‘No, I have some things I need to sort out with my brother.’ Both other girls understood instantly and nodded. Hiyori ran off with a wave of her hand and Rukia headed off with Isane in the direction of the showers and changing rooms. They were bustling with women, all the female skaters from each of the competitions seemed to have the same idea about getting showered and changed before heading out to deal with the media and Rukia had to wait for a shower to be free before she could use one.

It was the first time in a long time she felt part of the wider skating community again, chatting to one of the female ice dancers as they waited in line for a free shower, exchanging greatest fall stories and bruises on their bodies as they stripped down.

Rukia had always thought she hadn’t needed anyone else, had always thought of herself as a single entity and for a while that was perfectly okay, lonely, but okay.

The less people you let in the less people who could hurt you, the less people that could leave you behind. A life could only be full and satisfying when it was filled with love and people to care about, Rukia realised that now. Friendships, relationships not achievements and losses were what made life worth living.

‘I’ll see you later then Rukia?’ Isane asked as she swept her barely dry hair up into a bun at the back of her head.

‘Yeah, I’ll see you soon,’ Rukia grinned at her and watched as Isane was joined by Kiy and the two made their way out of the rink. Rukia got dressed and made her way outside. The frigid air caught her lungs and made her shiver as she pulled her Irish jacket more firmly over her shoulders.

Some of the media clocked her but Rukia skirted them easily, weaving in and out the people gathered outside the rink. Bykuya was standing waiting for her, his smile reaching his eyes for the first time in years as she made her way over to him.

‘Ready?’ he asked and Rukia nodded.

They made their way back toward the hotel and grabbed some food along the way, fully intending to eat in Byakuya’s room where they wouldn’t be disturbed. Rukia had a sneaky feeling that Gin wouldn’t be looking for her tonight. They only had a few days left at the Olympics now and he would want to spend as much time as he could with Rangiku since the two were _basically_ official.

Keen for the peace to be with her brother Rukia followed him into his room and dumped her large skating bag at the side of the door, rolling her shoulders and sitting down, the two of them talked about the Gala and the other performances of the evening. As always, they disagreed on a large number of the ones they had seen, Byakuya preferring the tame and reserved performances while Rukia preferred the ones who had gone all out and done something different and unique.

After they’d both eaten, that was when the topic drifted back to what they had been discussing at the rink.

‘You asked me if I regretted marrying your sister,’ Byakuya reminded her and Rukia nodded her head. ‘I already said I never but I feel like we’ve more to discuss there,’ he poured them both a glass of wine as he spoke and he leaned back in his seat. Rukia could feel his eyes on her face as she brought her own glass up to her lips. She was curled up in the corner of the couch, her feet pulled up beside her in a foetal position, her back resting against the arm rest as she faced her brother. Byakuya’s posture was far more relaxed than usual, he wore a long plum purple jumper and plain light blue jeans, his body stretched across the cushions as he too leaned his back against the opposite arm rest.

Rukia watched him, his eyes had travelled down to the glass held in his long fingers as he swirled the contents absentmindedly.

‘I was being honest when I said I regret nothing. Being with your sister was the happiest days of my life and if I went back I would do it all over again. Losing someone is hard, no one can even begin to tell you how difficult it is, for everyone we all grieve in different ways.

‘Your sister was the most beautiful and caring person I ever had the fortune of having in my life. I like to believe that God took her so early because this planet wasn’t good enough for her.’ Byakuya’s voice cracked a little with emotion and it was his turn to take a deep steadying breath.

‘I know for you it was especially difficult because she was more than your sister, she was a parent. Hisana loved you more than anything else on this planet and tried her best to stay strong for you, she was incredibly self-sacrificing and sometimes I think it crippled her. The only time she ever stood up for herself was in that argument with me, where I’d selfishly been letting my skating deteriorate my health.’

“‘That’s when the cracks begin to show,’” Rukia remembered her sister’s words well, that had been a heated night for the small broken family and her sister and Byakuya had not spoken for around a week.

‘Yes,’ he grimaced, ‘and I am so sorry for having used her words against you the other day, truly I am. I regretted it the moment I said them.’

‘No,’ Rukia shook her head, ‘I pushed you too far. I shouldn’t have been so selfish it’s not the person my sister raised. I was so angry with you because I knew something was going on, but you wouldn’t just talk to me. I’m not good at the emotional stuff,’ Rukia jerked her head, ‘I’ve always been better at the physical.’

‘That’s why you changed your Gala Skate?’ Byakuya asked.

‘That’s why I changed my Gala Skate,’ Rukia confirmed with a shy smile.

They sat in silence for a while. Byakuya’s eyes were on her face, Rukia could feel his gaze as she looked out the windows. The large balcony door had its hangings open and the lights from outside tinkled in and out of focus. In their silence Rukia could hear distant voices and the sound of music being played somewhere else in the hotel. Everyone was in full celebration mode now that the Olympics were almost over.

‘You’ve changed a lot since coming here,’ Byakuya said and Rukia turned her attention back to him, ‘for the better. I should have seen it before, but I was so caught up in trying to keep the bad news from you.’

‘What’s happened with Hisana’s grave?’ Rukia asked suddenly, remembering she still hadn’t asked about the outcome.

‘Her grave has been fully repaired, they prioritised the graves before the buildings, but the ceremony hall still needs to be rebuilt as does the wall.’

‘I can donate to that,’ she said pulling her phone out her pocket, missing her brothers sly smirk.

‘Yes you’ll have too since you cut me off,’ he replied.

Rukia winced.

‘Sorry about that, I wasn’t sure what was going on I don’t even know myself why I have been lashing out at you so badly.’

‘We both appear to have been trying to cause each other pain ever since your sister passed,’ Byakuya said and he seemed ashamed. ‘It’s not a healthy or productive way to function. We’ve both become self-destructive since we lost her.’

Rukia made a noise of agreement at the back of her throat. Looking back on their relationship, it was a wonder it had even managed to make it this long.

‘But know this Rukia,’ Byakuya said putting his glass on the table and leaning over to gaze intently into her eyes. ‘You are my pride.’

‘Byakuya…’ Rukia breathed, the emotions welling in her eyes as she stared at him. Rukia hadn’t been prepared for those words… she’d been so worried she’d let him down. ‘But I only got silver.’

‘And I’m proud of you for it. It would have been gold if I’d let you have a bit more freedom with your own routines. Going forward that’s exactly what we’ll do, so you don’t feel the need to change performances behind my back.’

‘Yeah,’ Rukia laughed, ‘sorry about that… and I’m sorry for my behaviour since we got to the Olympics. I know it’s gotten steadily worse…’

‘Love makes us do crazy things,’ Byakuya had said it with a playful edge to his voice. He innocently took a sip of his drink.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘I already told you I’d noticed a change in you, Rukia. Since coming here and yes, you’ve lashed out at me and we’ve both said and did things that can’t be taken back now, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I hadn’t noticed other changes in you, changes for the better.’

‘And what’s that got to do with love?’ Rukia questioned feeling a little confused but vaguely aware of where this conversation was now leading them.

‘Maybe you should tell me,’ he replied putting his wine glass down on the table and surveying her with his steely grey gaze.

Rukia put her phone down on the table. She had the right screen open and knew that would remind her to donate later, so she contemplated the question.

‘I guess, I’ve come to realise that gold medals won’t be there to comfort me when I’m having a bad day,’ Rukia finally said, ‘that friends and family will.’

Byakuya’s face broke into a gentle smile that reached all the way to his eyes again.

‘He’s changed you.’

‘Who?’ Rukia had asked it automatically but her brother laughed regardless.

‘That young gentleman that’s been plastered all over the background of your phone for the last week and a half,’ he chuckled.

Rukia couldn’t help the flush that climbed her cheeks at the mention of him and Byakuya’s smile only widened further before it faltered and fell from his face.

‘I’m sorry if I caused you two issues,’ he said and he genuinely sounded it. It was odd hearing her brother admit his wrong doings and offer up an apology. The two of them had always both been too stubborn to do that before.

‘It’s okay. We did fall out and we’ve not spoken again since,’ her brother’s face fell even further and Rukia hastened to correct it, ‘but I have a couple of ideas to try and win him back.’

‘It would be nice to see you finally settle down with someone, even if he doesn’t end up being, _the one,_ it would still be good for you to actually date someone and keep someone close who cared about you.’

‘Yeah,’ Rukia said with a smile, ‘it’s been nice, feeling like I had someone else here on my side. Someone I could turn to if I had a bad day and talk too.’

‘So what are your plans to win him back?’ Byakuya asked with a raised brow as he lifted his wine glass back off the table and took another drink.

‘Well it involves speaking to Rangiku first, if anyone has the ideas, she does,’ Rukia finished the final bits of the wine at the bottom of her glass.

‘We should do that,’ he said nodding his head and Rukia coughed.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘We should do that,’ he drained his glass and stood up. Rukia was staring up at him with her mouth open.

‘You want to come with me?’ she asked and he looked determinedly down at her.

‘Rukia if this boy makes you even a fraction as happy as your sister made me then he’s worth fighting for and family fights together,’ he smiled and Rukia felt her heart flutter in her chest.

‘You’ve changed,’ she said, watching him but making no move to stand up.

‘You changed me,’ he smiled, ‘you’ve no idea how much alike you and your sister are right now. It’s like I’m looking into the face of her ghost and it’s bringing back the kinder side of me, so you should take full advantage while you can.’

Rukia laughed and took his outstretched hand to be pulled to her feet.

‘So where is Rangiku?’ he asked.

\-----

Something about this entire situation felt unreal. They were walking briskly across the road that separated the two massive hotels, while the evening air set in around them. Rukia pulled her jacket tighter around her tiny frame, huddling down into it for warmth. The lights of the massive hotel twinkled at them against the inky purple blue of the darkening horizon. Byakuya was ahead of her by a couple of paces and seemed determined even though Rukia hadn’t been able to give him a room number. Truth was she could only remember the floor number but knew that once she was on the floor she’d be able to locate Rangiku’s room from memory. She just hoped she wouldn’t run into Toshiro while they were trying to reach his best friend.

‘What’s the plan if we bump into Toshiro?’ Byakuya asked, as if reading her mind.

‘Oh um well…’ Rukia hesitated because they were now walking through the entrance to the hotel and that was a very real possibility.

‘You should just speak to him here and now if we do, just tell him everything and apologise for that picture,’ Byakuya shot her a glance over his shoulder and Rukia winced. It had not been her finest hour for sure. She wouldn’t even know where to start. She’d probably get all tongue tied and blow it. Rukia desperately wanted to do something big, something that would show him how she felt like her Gala skate had done with her brother.

It was easier to talk emotion if she could do something physical to show Toshiro she cared. Physical stuff was just so much easier for her and conversation could flow better after that the same way it had done with her brother following her Gala skate. Rukia swallowed because she still couldn’t think what to say to Toshiro and they were already in the elevator, button pressed, and the doors closing.

One quick text to Gin had confirmed that he and Rangiku were in her hotel room, Rukia only had to make it there and then she could brainstorm an idea. Her brother seemed excited by the mission, he had a look of pure determination on his face that Rukia hadn’t seen since the days he used to skate. His eyes wandered down to his watch but flew up the moment the elevator dinged and opened onto the floor of Toshiro and Rangiku’s room.

Rukia flattened herself against the inside of the elevator and Byakuya’s eyes quickly swept the hallway for her.

‘Coast is clear,’ he said importantly, ‘there’s no white hair, come on.’ He strode from the elevator and Rukia chuckled as she followed him. There were a few athletes mulling around wearing the Australian colours, their accents washing over her and sending a shiver down her spine, but none of them were _his_ voice. Rangiku and Toshiro’s rooms were ridiculously close together and she was sure a couple of the Aussie athletes clocked them with a look of surprise. A few of them were flitting between rooms, drinking and further down the hall closer to Rangiku’s room someone was playing music.

It was much more like a College dorm than a hotel which was normally to be kept quiet, however it always got like this toward the end of the Olympics.

Rukia took a deep breath and knocked loudly on Rangiku’s door. There was the sound of movement from inside and the door opened, revealing a beaming Gin and a slightly hesitant looking Rangiku behind him.

‘Come in,’ Gin’s voice boomed and then his eyes flickered to Byakuya and his mouth fell open. Rangiku too looked surprised to see Rukia’s brother at her side.

Byakuya seemed to hesitate for a moment in the doorway, judging the looks on their faces and started to look a little insecure in his grand idea of coming with her.

‘Maybe I should stand guard?’ he offered and Rukia shook her head grabbing his arm and tugging him inside the room.

‘No way, if Toshiro sees you standing out in the hall he’ll know something is going on,’ Rukia said as Gin closed the door behind them.

‘Well this is ah surprise,’ Gin mumbled his eyes flicking between Rukia and Byakuya.

‘I came to apologise in person for my behaviour at your party the other evening,’ Byakuya said formally, ‘I’m very sorry.’

‘Apology accepted,’ Gin said throwing his arms wide, his plain white t-shirt stretching over his broad chest and Rukia didn’t miss the way Rangiku’s eyes were focused on him. ‘How can we help yeh?’

‘Well,’ Rukia shuffled as she finally met Rangiku’s gaze and hesitated. The taller woman was now staring at her, boring into her soul with those deep baby blue eyes. ‘I came to ask for Rangiku’s help.’

‘Why?’ Rangiku asked shrugging her shoulders and Rukia watched Gin wince a little. It was clear he’d been trying to convince her before Rukia made it over but it was obvious that Rangiku would accept nothing from anyone except Rukia herself.

‘Because I like him,’ Rukia sighed, turning to face Rangiku directly, ‘I like him a lot. I never slept with that other guy I just tossed that photo up because I was hurt and angry he’d put me on the spot in front of everyone like that.’

Byakuya shifted uncomfortably next to her and muttered another quick apology under his breath.

‘But I want him in my life and even if he doesn’t want me anymore then that’s fine at least I can say I tried.’

Rangiku seemed almost a little impressed and so did Gin. It was the first time she had been open and honest about her feelings like that to Rangiku.

‘Okay,’ Rangiku said a blinding smile stretching over her face, ‘I’ll help!’

She reached down under her bed and pulled her suitcase out. Gin had to sit up on the table and Rukia and Byakuya had to pull their feet up onto the other bed they were sitting on to allow room for the suitcase to be thrown open. Rangiku tossed things from side to side, making sure to toss a pair of very lacy underwear in Gin’s general direction before she found what she was looking for.

Gin had picked up the underwear but what he done with it Rukia didn’t see because her attention was now drawn fully to the book clutched in Rangiku’s hands.

“Going for Gold by Masaki Shiba,” was displayed in a large print on the front of the book and a beaming woman with a gold medal was gazing back at her. Rukia reached out and took it in her hands.

‘This was written by his mother?’ Rukia asked feeling her brows knit together.

‘Yes, he reads parts of it almost every night and if he’s not reading it, he’s listening to her voice in the audiobook.’ Rangiku said packing her suitcase away again and conveniently leaving Gin with the underwear. 

Rukia felt her heart tighten in her chest. She hadn’t known his mother had written a book.

‘I suppose we will find all the information we need in this book then?’ Byakuya asked as he gazed at the title.

‘Yeah you will,’ Rangiku said, ‘if you’re up to the challenge.’

Rukia nodded her head, she was. She flipped through the pages. It wasn’t a long book by any means. Just over three hundred pages, she’d read longer than this before.

‘The chapters set in the Olympics are the ones I’d pay particular attention too,’ Rangiku commented.

‘Why dae you hae a copy?’ Gin asked curiously and Rukia looked up to see him looking intently at Rangiku.

‘I guess,’ her lips twitched in a soft smile, ‘I’ve always hoped he’d find someone at the Olympics just like his mother and father had, so thought it best to bring a copy of the book just in case.’

‘Yer like… psychic,’ Gin murmured with a laugh and Rangiku’s girly chuckle filled the room.

‘Hardly, just a helpless romantic,’ as she said the words she shot a look at Gin who flushed under the gaze. Rukia didn’t need the gentle nudge from her brother to tell her it was time to go. With a swift smile at Gin, Rukia got to her feet, Byakuya standing beside her.

‘Thanks Rangiku, I appreciate this,’ Rukia made her way out the room and was followed to the door by Gin. The room door was opened and the music from the hallway crept into their room, it wasn’t loud but it was loud enough to help block out their conversation.

‘Gin tonight’s the night,’ Rukia told him firmly, ‘stop putting it off, it’s clear she’s really into you.’

‘Here,’ Byakuya pressed something into his hand and Gin looked down to see some of the free condoms they’d been handing out. Both Rukia and Gin stared at it for a moment before her friends long fingers curled around the foil wrapper.

‘When did ye get tae be so cool?’ Gin asked Byakuya looking at him in slight awe.

‘I’ve always been cool,’ Byakuya said standing up straighter and looking firmly insulted, his smile was the only indication of humour on his face, then his smile faltered and slipped from his lips. ‘I won’t need them.’

Rukia shot her brother a look but his smile was back on his face. Pursing her lips Rukia turned her attention back to Gin.

‘Good luck Gin, don’t overthink it, she’s really, really into you.’ Rukia said with a smile.

‘Ah’ll try no tae overthink it,’ he whispered back as there was a lull in the music, ‘but if ah dae Renji gave me mair eh those Kalms tablets.’ He winked at her and Rukia laughed lightly pulling her brother away from the room.

‘Does he get nervous like that often?’ Byakuya asked as Rukia led him away and used him as a human shield to keep between herself and Toshiro’s door in case it opened. Rukia knew that Byakuya would miss the viagra joke and decided not to inform him just now.

‘Just around a pretty face,’ Rukia replied and heaved a sigh of relief the moment they were in the elevator with the doors closing. ‘I wanted to ask you something though.’

‘Hm?’ Byakuya asked, he was eyeing the book they had just acquired, squinting down at it without his reading glasses on.

‘Did you want to find someone else?’ Rukia watched his face as he seemed to register what she was asking. His steely eyes rose to meet hers and he sighed.

‘Not at the moment, but maybe in the future I wouldn’t say no,’ he replied.

Rukia smiled kindly at him and nodded her head, she could live with that. Hisana would have wanted him to be happy, would have wanted him to move on and learn to love another. Rukia knew that they couldn’t continue to be the only thing that mattered in each other’s lives because that seemed to put a further strain on their relationship.

‘As long as she’s good enough,’ Rukia said and she watched the twitch of his lips as they left the elevator and crossed the lobby.

‘As long as she skates,’ he said and Rukia laughed heartily.

‘Toshiro doesn’t skate,’ Rukia pointed out to him.

‘No but I reckon he’ll have you snowboarding by the end of next year.’ Byakuya said with a sigh and Rukia grinned at him.

His optimism for the entire situation was infectious even though Rukia knew she shouldn’t be getting her hopes up. They made their way back toward their own hotel and only when they were safely in the lobby did Rukia feel herself actually relax. The tension from the prospect of bumping into Toshiro prematurely had been hindering. The sky outside had darkened to a plum purple by the time they reached Byakuya’s room and Rukia drew the curtains across the balcony while he set about making a pot of tea.

When Rukia turned back he had his reading glasses on and the book open on his kitchen counter.

‘I think I’m meant to be the one reading it,’ she laughed at him and he grinned up at her.

‘I thought maybe I could read it with you, like old times,’ Byakuya said.

‘You mean when you used to read me stories to fall asleep at night when I was little?’ Rukia asked, her brow twitching and he chuckled.

‘Yes, I suppose so, how about I read a chapter and then you.’

Rukia considered this for a while and the thought of spending more time with her brother while he was being so open and warm towards her was incredibly appealing. Rukia agreed and once the tea was on the table, Byakuya started.

They read until 3 in the morning. Byakuya had started with the first two chapters, only pausing to take a drink of his matcha green tea before passing the book over to Rukia. Rukia was more animated in her approach, giving the people she mentioned in the book different voices, including a – Rukia thought – very good impersonation of a deep Australian accent for Isshin Shiba once he arrived on scene.

Byakuya didn’t have the same animated tones, but he could read the bigger words better than Rukia and often corrected Rukia’s pronunciation which was cute at first but come 1 am started to annoy her.

When they hit the chapters set at the Olympics Rukia paused over a sentence.

‘Spell it out to me,’ Byakuya said glancing up at her from where he was piled over a document of his own paperwork. He’d mistaken Rukia’s pause to mean she had gotten stuck on a word but she hadn’t. A lump was rising in her throat and she continued to read the scene aloud. Isshin Shiba had just gathered all the other Australian athletes and aquired as many British flags as they could to head over to Masaki’s final. It had been exactly what Toshiro had done for her at her final. She hadn’t realised what a declaration it had been before but now she understood.

That was Toshiro’s way of telling Rukia how he felt, exactly the same way his dad had done in this story.

Rukia must have started mumbling the words to herself because she felt a weigh sitting down beside her.

‘Rukia?’ Byakuya asked tentatively, ‘is everything okay?’

‘This is it,’ she said looking up at him, ‘this is what we have to do!’

Dawning recognition crossed his face and he nodded his head.

‘He did this for you?’ Byakuya asked.

‘Yes,’ Rukia whispered fondly, her fingers tracing the words etched onto the paper. This was going to become her new favourite book.

Rukia felt her brothers cool fingers sweep the hair off her cheek and tuck it behind her ear. It was a movement he hadn’t done for her in years, since she was a little girl.

‘This is what we will do then,’ Byakuya nodded down at the book and stifled a yawn behind his hand glancing at the time. ‘We’d better go to bed if we’re going to pull this off.’

‘Yeah,’ Rukia nodded standing up and stretching her stiff limbs. She’d been huddled up on the couch for the entire time they’d been reading. Rukia lifted her bag and made for the door before her brother stopped her.

‘Rukia, don’t you do anything without me tomorrow,’ he nodded his head, ‘I know you’ve been worried about my lack of sleep but I want to be there for you, so I don’t care how early it is, wake me up okay?’

Rukia smiled and nodded her head.

‘I will, goodnight, Bro,’ she said and he laughed offering her a goodnight hug before she slipped out of his room. The hall was quiet now, most athletes either asleep or told off for being too loud by hotel staff. Rukia made her way down the corridor to her own room and opened it slipping inside as quietly as she could. Soi Fon was asleep and Rukia didn’t want to disturb her, the girl had been training hard and her own final was one of the last slope competitions before the end of the Olympics.

Rukia dressed in the semi dark, using only her phone light so she didn’t disturb the sleeping girl, then she slipped into bed, Masaki’s book clutched in her hand and dove under the covers so she could shine a light on it. Rukia continued to read for as long as she could stand to be awake. Her favourite chapters came later, the baby stories of Toshiro as an infant were something she’d cherish forever. Rukia could see him so clearly in her mind, he was chubby with startling white hair and wide teal eyes that seemed to be wise beyond their years, already bursting with love and compassion for everyone else around him.

Rukia re-read a few of those sentences, grinning to herself and just wishing she had pictures to accompany the sea of images she had in her mind. It was clear from Masaki’s words that she had loved both Ichigo and Toshiro very much.

Rukia didn’t remember at the exact point she fell asleep, all she knew was she was being woken by the sound of a blaring alarm and groaned, the book under her face and her phone dead in her hand from using the torch light.

‘Timesit?’ Rukia asked in an offhand Gin impersonation.

‘Just after 8 in the morning,’ Soi Fon said and the girl disappeared into the bathroom. Rukia groaned again but had enough sense to plug her phone in to charge before rolling over and pulling the book out from under her. Today would be the day she’d put her own heart on the line for him and if he didn’t want her then she’d deal with that when it happened.

The sound of Soi Fon showering stopped Rukia from going back to sleep and the moment her phone screen lit back up with life she set an alarm in case she fell back asleep again. She couldn’t have gotten more than a couple of hours at most.

‘It’s okay,’ Rukia told herself in the semi light room, ‘if this all goes well I’ll be able to sleep beside him tonight.’

Rukia tried to keep the insinuation out of her voice but it was there, it always was and she grinned, laughing at herself and snuggling into her pillow. She had to think about what she would say to him when she finally got to see him, there was just too much. Rukia had decided at some point through the night to quote a section of the book to him. If he read it as often as Rangiku said he did then it was likely he’d have memorised it. Rukia also wanted to explain about the picture, apologise for the BBQ, tell him how she felt… there was a lot of things she wanted to say and she wasn’t sure how much time she’d have to say them at the end of his final.

Rukia also had a lot of stuff to arrange and she picked her phone back up and fired a text off to Gin. Either he wasn’t awake yet or he was _busy_ because he didn’t read as online. Rukia was excited to hear about his evening, wondering he had actually done the deed with Rangiku and trying to picture how mind blown his face would be if he had.

Soi Fon came out the shower to Rukia giggling to herself.

‘What’s so funny?’ she asked as she put her training gear on and gathered up her things.

‘Gin may have slept with Rangiku last night,’ she told the other cross rider who promptly dropped her helmet with shock.

‘What… seriously?’ Soi Fon asked, her mouth hanging open and her expression dumfounded.

‘Yeah,’ Rukia’s grin slid off her face and she glanced at the snowboard in her hands, ‘how long is your training today?’

‘Couple of hours,’ she said shrugging, ‘why?’

‘I was wondering if you could help me with something?’ Rukia asked, and Soi Fon raised a brow. Rukia filled her in and by the end of the story Soi Fon was nodding her head.

‘Yeah, I kinda figured what he did was pretty cute, so seems only fair you return the favour, especially after that picture,’ Soi Fon said picking up the helmet she’d dropped.

Rukia groaned. It had been one moment of weakness brought about by high emotions and she’d never ever be able to live it down. It must have been so nice to be normal, to post something on your social media and not have it go viral and used against you in the worst ways possible, despite all that Rukia knew she deserved some of the harsh criticism she was getting for it. Taking a deep breath she nodded.

‘I’ve got a lot of making up to do,’ she confirmed.

They set a time and place to meet and she was off, slipping out the door. That was when Rukia’s phone lit up with an incoming text and she hastily grabbed it off the side table. Glancing at the screen, she grinned seeing Gin’s name flash up on her phone.

_Big G, 08:34am  
Are you in your room!?!??!!?!!!!!!?!!!?!?!!”*&e83ypr9wqr4p081[45<L:£Q!!!!!!!!_

Rukia laughed at the message and confirmed that she was. Rukia stood up and made her way over to the door, opening it and jamming it open with a shoe so he could just come in. She made her way back to bed and slumped down onto the covers, she hoped he’d be bringing food with him at least.

Gin did indeed bring food and practically kicked her door in as he made his way inside. Rukia looked over to see the look of pure wonder on his face and was laughing before she could even stop herself. He placed the bag of food down on her desk and turned to close the door properly behind him.

‘Oh mah god,’ Gin said, turning to look at her again, his mouth slightly open.

‘So how was it?’ Rukia asked with a smirk, her body turning in the direction of the smell of food.

‘Amazing, unbelievable, ah still think ah’m dreaming,’ he laughed and Rukia finally pushed herself back up into a sitting position as he handed her a paper container with some grilled sausages and eggs. Rukia ate happily while Gin managed to fill her in on the evening. It seemed he had finally made a move on Rangiku, leaning in to kiss her but that was apparently the only signal Rangiku had needed before she’d pounced on him.

Though he was nervous, he hadn’t needed to use the “Kalms” tablets, but he had happily explored Rangiku’s body first before he felt confident enough to allow her to return the favour. Rukia listened intently, he seemed to be holding back on some of the finer details of their love making but his happiness was undeniable and Rukia couldn’t help the massive grin across her face.

‘So I suppose you’re in a good enough mood for me to ask for a favour?’ Rukia asked with a small smile.

‘Aye, ah’ll help anyone with anyhin right now,’ he laughed and Rukia laughed.

‘I know what I need to do, according to Toshiro’s mother’s book,’ Rukia flicked through the pages and found the scene where she’d folded down a tiny corner of the page, ‘I need to gather up as many people as I can and go to his finals dressed in the Aussie colours. So I’ve got a lot to organise.’

‘Naw ye’ve no,’ Gin laughed heartily, ‘Rangiku knew ye’d get tae that conclusion so she’s already arranged most of the Aussies for you!’ he smirked at her and Rukia smiled in relief.

‘I will need to thank her,’ she said with a sigh leaning back on her bed.

A silence passed over them for a moment as Rukia registered that some of the workload had been lifted from her shoulders. All she’d have to organise was Soi Fon which she’d already done this morning and Renji who likely would already know if Ichigo had been roped into it.

‘Yuzu?’ Rukia asked after a moment.

‘She’s comin’ dinnae yeh worry,’ Gin said checking his watch, ‘though if we want tae dae this hing we need tae go meet them aw an get ready.’

Rukia nodded, feeling a little flutter of butterflies but heaved herself out of bed and into the shower all the same. Gin stayed in the room while she did her hair and makeup, opting for light eyeliner because she knew they’d be painting their faces anyway.

Once she was presentable enough Gin led the way back in the direction of the other hotel. He called Rangiku to find out if the coast was clear and Rukia did her best to tune out the more private aspects of their conversation as she walked briskly alongside Gin’s massive strides.

He hung up when they stepped into the elevator and he flashed a grin at her.

‘Excited?’ he asked.

‘Nervous,’ Rukia sighed and it was true, this was the most nervous she’d been in a very long time.

‘Dinnae worry, Rangiku is convinced this will work,’ Gin nodded his head.

‘Why is she so sure?’ Rukia couldn’t stop herself from asking.

‘Because she’s seen the way he is around yeh, an’ she says he’s pretty smitten,’ Gin smiled at her as the elevator dinged and Rukia stepped out into a sea of slight chaos. Rukia had asked both Jushiro and Urahara to come as well and they’d needed very little convincing. Amongst the chaos Byakuya called out to her and was instantly by her side.

‘This is manic,’ he said firmly but Rukia pursed her lips to stop herself from laughing at him. Someone had gotten to Byakuya’s face with makeup and he had a very good Australian flag on his cheek.

‘Rukia!’ Rangiku beamed and made her way through the sea of bright and dark green as the Irish and Aussie team mingled once again.

‘Rangiku,’ Rukia breathed being engulfed into the taller woman’s arms and enjoying the embrace before the woman moved to greet Gin, ‘did you do the flag?’ Rukia asked nodding to her brother’s cheek.

‘No they’re transfers, Steve brought a bunch of them from Australia,’ she waved towards one of the Australian members who was a thin man wearing the Australian colours and his beanie firmly on place on his head. Rukia watched as he put another transfer on someone else’s cheek before peeling it back off to reveal a perfect little Australian flag.

‘That’s amazing,’ Rukia laughed.

‘Are you ready?’ Byakuya asked smiling down at her as Rangiku pulled Jushiro down onto a chair and started to attack his face with gold and green paint to match the Australian team colours.

Byakuya had arrived with the other coaches, he’d clearly been giving Rukia time alone with Gin because he didn’t wish to be subjected to the chats around his nightly activities. Rukia wandered over to Steve who turned out to be Jinta’s roommate and was asked to sit on one of the chairs which had been wheeled out into the hallway. Not wanting to smudge an Australian flag by accident Rukia settled on the solid green and gold stripes that had been painted onto most other people’s faces before she stood up and her position was switched with Gin.

Rukia was shot an appraising look from Karin as she made her way back over to stand beside her brother. When she met Karin’s gaze she grinned for a second and the dark haired twin sighed and made her way over.

‘I’m still pissed off at you,’ she started and Rukia winced. She’d forgotten that Yuzu was the more reasonable twin, even if Karin had every right to be really angry with her. ‘But I saw your reaction to his fall.’

Rukia couldn’t even remember her reaction, she didn’t want to think about it, she was sure she’d been hysterical, but it had all passed in a blur. Karin handed Rukia a tiny little Australian flag to wave and then ducked away from them, like she was worried what else would say if she hung around Rukia too long. The interaction brought no real comfort to Rukia, she knew she’d messed up and was worried she’d spend the rest of her life making it up to his family if this worked.

‘You made a mistake,’ Byakuya said in her ear, ‘you’re fixing it. Don’t dwell on anything else.’

Rukia took a deep breath and nodded, he was right. One day she’d maybe be able to forgive herself for her moment of weakness.

Once they were all ready and tidied the hallway (sort of) they all piled into the elevators and staircases to meet downstairs in the lobby. Rukia had opted for the stairs needing to keep moving because the adrenaline had started coursing through her veins again. Rangiku was leading the charge, since she knew the best route to get them to the halfpipe course. They piled into a section reserved for the athletes and coaches and took up the majority of the space, it had been agreed that Rukia would remain out of view until after the contest when she would be revealed by the wall of people taller than her. Renji had offered to hoist her up onto his shoulders when that moment happened but Rukia had declined. She valued her life.

The commentators started up their announcements and Rukia’s eyes found one of the giant TV screens around the slope to see the table and order of the competition. As the first qualifier for the event, Toshiro was to be boarding last. It was the best of 3 runs with only the highest score awarding them their place in the final standings.

‘He’s going to medal,’ Rangiku said confidently, ‘obviously.’

‘Yeah he is,’ Karin agreed, Yuzu and Rukia remained quiet. Rukia didn’t care if he medalled or not, she just didn’t want him to hurt himself. He was still recovering from his slopestyle crash and that was hard enough.

‘As long as he’s safe,’ Rukia breathed and she felt Yuzu nodding in agreement.

‘So how does this work?’ Byakuya asked, standing there clutching his little Australian flag and nodding to the TV’s as the first competitor was up. Gin did his best to explain the rules to him but it was much like figure skating… actually it was more complex because there were so many jumps, grabs and names it gave Rukia a headache just thinking about it. She knew she’d have to get on top of all that if Toshiro agreed to date her, she’d not always have Gin around to tell her what was and what wasn’t good.

The competition went on and Gin did his best to explain what they were seeing to Byakuya and Rukia, but Rukia didn’t care she had eyes only for one person. When his name was finally announced the entire IreAussie team cheered loudly.

‘Is that him?’ Byakuya hissed in her ear, causing her to laugh as Toshiro’s image came on the screen.

‘That’s him,’ Rukia replied. It was hard to tell considering the helmet, goggles, gloves and bib but the image that flashed up on the screen was undeniably Toshiro. She’d recognise those wild spikes and large eyes framed with thick eyelashes anywhere.

Toshiro took a deep breath, his father’s hand on his shoulder before he shot down the slope and up into the pipe. Rukia could feel her nails digging into the palms of her hands as she watched helplessly.

‘Front side double cork, backside double cork-’ Rukia tried her best to drone out Rangiku and Gin’s double commentary. Toshiro hadn’t fallen yet and that was surely something! It was clear from his rotations that he was still better than most of the first few athletes who had started the competition off.

‘He’s really quite good isn’t he,’ Byakuya whispered to her and Rukia couldn’t help but laugh at the slight awe in his voice.

‘Yeah he is,’ she couldn’t hide the pride in her own as Toshiro finished up his run skidding at the bottom of the pipe and very close to where Karin and Yuzu were huddled at the front of the IreAussie crew at the barrier. He ripped his goggles off his face looking roughly pleased with himself and smiled at the camera. Rukia felt her heart tighten in her chest.

He looked so happy already, would seeing her here just ruin that for him? Was this really a good idea?

Her little anxious bout was wiped away when his score flashed up on the screen. 90.84 and was shot up into third place. They all cheered loudly for him and he left to make his way back up to the top of the pipe. Rukia glanced around her as there was a small lull in the contest while they got ready for the next round.

Round two started in much the same way, all the best athletes from the eleven scheduled to compete were going in the final three slots so the competition. Two riders had falls in the pipe, the worst seemed to be a burst lip which looked much worse than it was, mostly because of all the blood that stained the white snow. Rukia could feel her nerves getting the better of her again and just prayed he’d be safe and wouldn’t fall.

When Ikkaku the New Zealand snowboarder had gone, Rukia heard a lot of mutterings around them. She wasn’t sure why, his score hadn’t been enough to knock the young Japanese boy from the top of the leader board yet.

‘What’s going on?’ Byakuya asked her and Rukia frowned.

‘I’m not sure,’ she turned to Gin who had just come back from seeing Rangiku and he looked a bit concerned. Instantly Rukia’s mind jumped to Toshiro.

‘Is he okay?’ she asked quickly and Gin blinked in confusion at first.

‘Who?’

‘Peppa fucking pig, who do you think?’ she sent him a glare and he laughed.

‘Oh nah, Wee Tosh is fine, bu’ we aw hink Ikkaku has a double cork 1440 up his sleeve, he looked far tae happy at the end eh tha’ run tae no hae somethin’ extra tucked up his sleeve.’

‘What does that mean?’ Byakuya asked, Rukia was sure he’d asked because he couldn’t fully understand Gin’s accent but the Scottish man explained.

‘It means he may take gold,’ Gin shrugged, ‘if he can pull tha’ aff ah’m convinced it would get him inter number one slot.’

‘Ah,’ Byakuya said though Rukia couldn’t tell if he had actually understood anything.

Toshiro went last and Rukia felt the familiar thrill run through her when she spotted him on the screen. This time Toshiro’s tricks had, what seemed like, more rotations, they looked tighter than normal but of course went by so fast it was difficult to tell. Gin’s commentary told her these were 1440’s and Rukia frowned scrubbing her face.

What were the difference between 1440’s and the double cork 1440? She had no clue, but she knew from experience that sometimes the smallest change in direction for a jump could make all the difference in how complex it was to pull off.

The edge she took off for her lutz was the only reason why that jump was classed as the second most difficult jump to do.

His score flashed up, 92.60 but still in third place. He looked ecstatic with that though. While he picked up his snowboard there was an announcement. There was going to be a twenty-minute layover before the final round so they could clear the pipe from a couple of the falls and ensure it was safe to use again. Rukia also figured they’d be cleaning the blood off it so it didn’t distract the other athletes.

Whatever the reason, the group around Rukia seemed to converge in on her and Rukia blinked up at Gin.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘Now’s the time, let’s dae this!’ Gin practically grabbed her and Rukia felt her stomach quiver… surely it was safer to wait until after his final run? What if she distracted him and he fell? But there was going to be no qualms about it… some of the other athletes were holding their place beside the railings at the front while Toshiro’s family, the Irish athletes and a large portion of the rest of the Australian crew made their way out from the watching area and behind the stands.

‘SMILE!’ Gin grinned up at the camera in his hand and Rukia ducked out of sight. With a laugh he passed the phone back to Rangiku who started typing away madly on it.

Rukia felt like she was hyperventilating but she knew she had to fix this. From where she was being shielded by the large group around her, she heard commotion and took a deep breath knowing that Toshiro had just arrived on the scene. Rangiku had sprung on him like a lapdog and was joined by the people she’d beaten out the way to be the first at his side. From the gaps in the figures, Rukia could see how happy he looked, smiling and beaming around at them all. The doubt returned again, she was going to show up and ruin it for him, possibly cause him an accident in the pipe.

Rukia winced and only calmed down when she felt a strong secure hand on the base of her back. Byakuya was by her side, as if sensing her insecurity.

‘Breathe,’ Byakuya told her and she did, taking a deep steadying breath as person after person moved aside to allow Toshiro through to hug every single figure in the huddle. Then he got to Gin, the literal last person shielding Rukia from Toshiro’s view and he stepped aside, revealing her.

She tried her best to read the reaction on Toshiro’s face. Shock was apparent as he stopped walking and stared at her. Everyone was watching them, gauging his reaction just as much as she was. Rukia smiled nervously at him, the familiar feeling of butterflies returning to her stomach in waves.

‘“You didn’t think I’d miss this, did you?’” Rukia quoted the line from his mother’s book. It was the only logical thing her mind would give her in that moment. A second of recognition seemed to flicker across his face and she was pleased he’d taken his goggles off because his expression would have been fucking impossible to read with them on.

A nervous silence seemed to follow and Rukia felt very tense, despite her brother’s hand rubbing a soothing thumb against her lower back.

No matter what happened she had him, that’s what he was telling her.

‘Is that Beyoncé over there?!’ Yuzu suddenly called and everyone turned their attention elsewhere. Rukia had eyes and focus only for Toshiro though as Karin replied to her sister and Rukia felt the group around them disperse to give her privacy. Her brother hesitated for a second but eventually went with them.

‘What are you doing here?’ Toshiro asked, his voice low.

Rukia faltered for a second, hesitation and doubt swirling around her head. She knew he'd seen the photo and knew she had a lot of grovelling to do to make this up to him, but now that she was here she found herself tongue tied. All the words she'd been practicing seemed to catch in her throat which she cleared. She could hardly say she'd come to try and win him back because that would suggest he was something to own, like a medal instead of an actual human being.

'Well, I came to see you,' Rukia fidgeted with her sleeves, 'I came to say what I wanted to say at the BBQ but never got a chance too.' She paused to assess his reaction before she'd continue.

Toshiro seemed to give no indication that he even wanted to hear what she had to say and it caused her to flinch a little. She'd obviously hurt him more than she realised, but it was too late to backtrack now.

'And what's that?' Toshiro asked. Rukia took a deep breath, it was now or never, do or die, if he turned her down then she'd just have to find a way to live with that but she couldn't go forward constantly wondering how things may have turned out. The idea of living with that regret far outweighed the cost of trying and failing.

'That I like you,' Rukia could feel the heat creeping across her cheeks as she said it, but she was looking pointedly away from him, not quite ready to see his reaction yet, 'that my feelings toward you have grown over the past two weeks and it's the first time I've ever felt like this about anyone, ever.'

'I’m sorry I put you on the spot at the barbecue,' Toshiro’s reply seemed to burst from him, as he hastened to explain. 'I shouldn’t have been so quick to assume the worst. I just… I just liked you so much, and I had all these insecurities in my mind telling me you could never like me back, even though your actions said otherwise.'

Rukia's eyes flew to his as she digested his words. At first she felt overwhelming relief and she blew out a breath that she'd been holding in, the tension draining from her shoulders. She'd been preparing to be let down, gently, that she'd hurt him too much. Of course there was still time for that, because he may not like the idea of long distance, he may find it as repulsive as she did but unlike her, wouldn't want to try.

His eyes were focused entirely on her and she was taken again by just how incredibly gut wrenchingly attractive he was. It was like being fisted in the face by a Greek God.

'That's okay,' Rukia mumbled shyly when she finally found her voice again, aware that he was expecting a response. 'I should have run after you, I should have called you that night to discuss things privately but...' she shook her head. 'I'm not good at the emotional stuff. I'm so sorry Toshiro, I should never have...' she sighed and straightened up, 'I shouldn't have run away again... I should have fought for you.'

There was so much more she wanted to say, but she knew time was trickling away from them. Toshiro cast his eyes around and Rukia followed his gaze, noticing that his family and their friends had been watching them intently, like they were a good episode of Love Island before promptly turning their attention elsewhere once they'd been spotted. Rukia scowled at them, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks again. At least they were far enough away that they couldn't hear what was being said.

'So I like you and you like me…' Toshiro's voice trailed off, he spoke slowly as if mauling the situation over, 'Where does that leave us now? The Olympics ends in two days.' That thought sent a wave of nausea through her chest. She'd been trying not to dwell on how little time they had left together and how much of it she'd already wasted by being so prideful.

'We'd have had more time together if I hadn't...' she spoke low, mostly to herself and quickly shook her head taking a deep breath. Toshiro was asking about what happened after... what the future for them was away from the Olympics. A small smile began to grace her features as her gaze drifted down to the Australian logo on his jacket.

'How about a bet?' she said before she could stop herself, her eyes flickering back to his own and her smile shy. 'If you win Gold here today, I'll come visit you in Oz?' she left the words for a second before following them up, 'if you don't, then you come and visit me in Ireland?'

'After worlds?' Toshiro asked and Rukia watched as a crooked smirk lit up his features, causing those butterflies to flutter inside her stomach again. Worlds would be good! They had their world Championships around the same time in March. 'I hear Ireland is nice in the spring.'

Rukia bit her lower lip and rolled her eyes, 'it is, but I'm sure Australia will be equally as thrilling, and maybe you can show me how you overcome the challenge of no snow?' She could see the picture forming in her mind, and knew that whatever happened it would be likely that Gin or Rangiku would be involved in these travel plans too. Gin wouldn't take any convincing to go along to Oz, Rukia could pay for them both to fly first class and if Toshiro had to come to Ireland... well she'd figure out a way of getting him first class if he didn't have the air miles to get it himself.

Toshiro's grin stretched across his face and he looked like he was gearing himself up to speak again when they were interrupted. This time it was a necessary interruption. 'We've got to get back up there, Kid,' Isshin said as made his way over. Rukia glanced up at Toshiro's father, the man looked genuinely apologetic for the intrusion but her attention was drawn back to Toshiro as she felt him reach for her hand. He raised it to his lips and kissed it, Rukia felt the heat in her cheeks again. The action was so simple and yet it seemed to hold more intimacy in this one simple gesture than many of the other times they'd been wrapped around each other.

'I'll see you after?' Toshiro asked, his eyes so full of hope that Rukia melted a little under the gaze.

'I'll be here waiting,' she whispered back softly, hoping no one else heard how pathetically devoted her voice sounded.

Then he was gone, being led away by his father and Rukia watched the back of him retreating. His posture was determined and Rukia sighed, hoping that whatever she’d done for his mental state he’d just be safe in that damn pipe.

Suddenly she was engulfed in the IreAussie team and they were all asking her questions. She wasn’t even sure who’s voice belong to who in all the mess and fuss.

‘What did he say?’

‘He kissed your hand!’

‘What did you say?’

‘Did you two make up?’

‘He _kissed_ your hand!’

‘Are yeh gonnae try fir lang distance?’

‘Is he coming out to get drunk with us tonight?’

‘He _kissed_ your _hand.’_

Rukia ignored most of the questions trying to wave them off while fighting back a blush as she laughed uncomfortably.

‘Come on now,’ Byakuya said to the kids, his frown deepening at the behaviour of most of the coaches, ‘what happened is between her and Toshiro I’m sure we’ll find out in due course but let’s let them figure it out together first.’

‘Yeah, let’s go watch the last run!’ Karin punched the air and the group dispersed, Rukia felt an overwhelming sense of relief for her brother once again and made her way back to the same viewing spot. This time though she was pushed to the front of the barriers by the entire rest of the Aussie team who had saved her spot.

Rukia stood there for the entire next run, waving her little Australian flag alongside Karin and Yuzu who were the other two shortest members of the team.

The third set of runs went well, there were no accidents and they seemed smoother compared to the second run. Rukia wasn’t even aware of what was happening until the fourth last competitor went and didn’t manage to beat his score.

Only then did Rukia realise… looking at the board… Toshiro had medalled!

‘He’s done it!’ Karin shouted and Rangiku called from behind them. ‘He’s fucking got a medal!’

‘He’ll be ecstatic!’ Yuzu exclaimed as the whole IreAussie team around them started shouting and whooping with delight. Rukia joined in, she couldn’t believe it and she was beyond happy for him. It wouldn’t matter to Toshiro what colour that medal was, he was here to make his family and friends and country proud.

‘Well done,’ Rukia whispered looking up the hill to where he’d be behind the scenes getting the news himself. She wondered what impact this would have on his performance. Would he go all-out knowing he wouldn’t have anything to lose? Or play it safe and avoid injury now he knew he had a medal?

The young Japanese boarder went third to last but didn’t manage to improve his score. He still sat comfortably in first place until the New Zealander was announced. Ikkaku stepped up, pulling his goggles on, looking like he was ready for the fight of his life.

He started down the slope, getting height out of the pipe unlike anything Rukia had seen the entire contest. She knew that would count for something, but apparently it was the rotations that had killed it, back to back double cork 1440’s which apparently Toshiro could do, but Ikkaku could get the height that Toshiro couldn’t.

They all waited for his score with baited breath and then it flashed on screen, 96.75 and shot him up into first place. Rukia couldn’t believe it, what a run that had been! He’d made it look so easy but watching back on the replay showed her how much skill was involved in these tricks. She’d never ever get tired of watching the way the snowboarders could flip through the air like that.

Then Toshiro was announced and Rukia looked back up the halfpipe. From this far away he was tiny green spec but she’d know that tiny green spec anywhere. The entire IreAussie team cheered loudly, jumping and waving their flags up at him, knowing that whatever happened now he had a medal.

‘Just get back safe,’ Rukia whispered, her heart clenching in her chest as he started down that dangerous slope and off into the halfpipe.

‘Front side double cork 1440,’ Karin commentated, ‘backside double cork 1440, sky hook, frontside 1260-’

Rukia was barely listening, she was just silently cheering each time he landed safely inside the pipe unharmed. Then Toshiro shot out for the final trick and even Rukia couldn’t miss the way he turned his back to the pipe as he did it. Blind entry and his family gasped, he was up in the air, rotating and she held her breath. He landed with a blind entry too and the entire crowed went mental.

‘Switch backside 1260!’ Rangiku was screaming at the top of her voice, over and over as they all lost their shit. Rukia had no clue why that trick was so damn difficult but she was just cheering that he’d landed and was safe!

‘Tha’s gotta be gold!’ Gin was shouting.

Rukia turned to Gin and Byakuya.

‘What was that?’ he was asking.

‘Switch is when yeh ride with yer less dominant foot, its bloody difficult,’ Gin explained and Rukia remembered that, she’d heard that term before. Someone who rode goofy stance would ride regular and vice versa, making the tricks even harder and more dangerous. Rukia turned back to watch Toshiro. He was only a few feet away from them as he waited to his scores. It seemed he’d been engulfed into a massive hug by the riders who had gone before him.

His score flashed on screen.

97.89.

_Gold!_

He’s just won the _gold medal_!

Rukia could barely hear anything over the ringing in her ears as the entire IreAussie team lost their collective shit. She joined in screaming and cheering with the rest of them, laughing as Toshiro was thrown over the tall New Zealanders back and carried around the other riders. It was pandemonium, nothing like the decorative and quaint figure skating community. Byakuya seemed a little out of place though he too was clapping happily for Toshiro.

He was only put back on his feet long enough for some interviews as the area was promptly set up for the medal ceremony.

Rukia could hear everyone around her chatting away, but her eyes were only for Toshiro. He looked older, his face shining with excitement as he answered the questions from the news reporters and spoke to the commentators. Then he was led over to stand behind the podium where the winners were announced.

Hinataro the boy from Japan was awarded the bronze medal and he accepted it graciously. Then Ikkaku was awarded the silver, even where he stood on his second step, he was taller than Toshiro when he finally stood up onto the top of the podium. The cheers and claps for Toshiro were tremendous and Rukia knew it was mostly their giant family making the noise but she didn’t care.

He was looking down at his gold medal with pride shining in his eyes. Rukia could feel everyone waving and cheering for him behind her but then his eyes locked onto hers, a smirk on his face.

‘You!’ Toshiro shouted at her, his finger pointing directly at her. Rukia laughed because it seemed she wasn’t the only one today quoting things. He jumped down from his podium and marched towards her with a fierce determination in his eyes and she grinned at him.

Oh she was so ready for this! With one leg hooked onto the lower part of the railing she leaned up and over to reach his lips as he all but crushed them together. The breath was knocked out of her mouth and into his. His wintery taste so much more like home than anything she’d ever tasted before in her life, his scent as intoxicating as ever and the feeling of his arms wrapping around her had her melting uselessly against his chest.

Rukia could hear the wolf whistles, the cheering, the sound of cameras going off around them but she didn’t care. The IreAussie team were helping her over the barrier and into Toshiro’s arms. She locked her legs at his waist and kissed him with as much passion as she could muster in that moment, trying to pour every ounce of all the unspoken words into his mouth directly.

‘I guess I’ll see you in Australia then,’ Rukia murmured as she broke away for air, her smile huge on her face.

‘I guess so,’ Toshiro’s eyes twinkled with happiness and her expression softened once again. She reached down and pecked his lips one more time, softly before they were surrounded by his family and friends who had ditched the barrier altogether and were now moving freely over to spend time with the winning athletes.

He was passed around from person to person, Gin took everyone’s pictures so he could edit them perfectly and Byakuya did his best to ignore the inappropriate remarks that Gin and Rangiku seemed to be sending their way.

The family was big and dysfunctional, but Rukia wouldn’t want it to ever function any other way.

This was home for her now.

\-----

**@** **Christophe-gc**  
_FINALLY! All aboard, the SHIP HAS SAILED!!!!  
Retweeted from **@RukiaFansOfficial**  
LOOK AT THAT KISS (Shock face) (heart) #RukiShiro #IreAussie [Video Attached]_

**@ IrishLass101  
_@_** **_Christophe-gc_ ** _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE KNEWIT WE NEVER DOUBTED IT FOR A SECOND!_

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
_@_** **_Christophe-gc_ ** _We can honestly die happy now! Just need a Ran and Gin moment to cement the IreAussie cement!_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
_@_** **_Christophe-gc @RanRoxyQueen29_ ** _YES Happy endings all around please!! (grin) (heart) (grin)_

****

**@NewSHIROFamFan  
_@_** **_Christophe-gc_ ** _did you see Yuuri and Victor on their honeymoon reacted to this too!!! MASSIVE ice skating legends, and they were #RukiShiro fans all along!_

**@VictorNikiforov** _  
**@Christophe-gc @NewSHIROFamFan** I can confirm, we love love! Waving an Irish and Australian flag tonight for them! (heart eyes) (heart eyes)  
liked by **@Christophe-gc** and 10,622 others_

**@IrishLass101  
_@Christophe-gc_** _I.Cannot. Contain. My. Excitement. Too. Much. SQUEEEEEEEEEE! Can they get married right now? Like PLZ?_

**@Toshiupdates  
_@Christophe-gc @IrishLass101_** _This. We need this. They’re so cute. I cant wait to see all their pictures and cute videos, I want my boy to be happy!_

**@RukiShiroShipper69**  
**_@Christophe-gc @RukiShiroIsDEAD_ ** _Where are you now eh????  
YEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... we actually told you all the medal placements for this fic... twice ;D 
> 
> In the number of likes for Toshiro's instagram picture and in the number of times the characters lost at the hot tub game. Rangiku lost twice, indicating her silver, Rukia lost twice indicating her silver, Gin lost three times indicating his bronze and Toshiro lost once, indicating his gold. We had fun with hiding these little easter eggs that I bet no one actually cares about LOL!
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord then you can do so here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)
> 
> My trello can be found here: https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions  
> Where you can be kept up to date on my writing projects and when the next chapter is due up!


	12. Olympic Rings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘That actually sounds pretty cool,’ Rukia decided, turning to glance at Toshiro and gauge his reaction. A group tattoo was something she’d never done before and even if things between her and Toshiro didn’t work out, she knew she’d want to remember this Olympics for the rest of her life. It was likely her last Olympics anyway, given that in another 4 years she’d be 29 and probably retired from the figure skating world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, we're in the emotional final stretch guys!!! I dunno how I feel about it, this series has been a massive part of my fan fiction writing world and I know it hasn't been that popular but it's meant so much to Gei and I to write it anyway. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Art by: Ammsterdamn

The door to Toshiro’s hotel room swung closed behind them, Rukia stepping into the familiar space and her eyes sweeping over the beds. The room seemed different and Rukia wondered if it had something to do with the new relationship she’d witnessed between Toshiro and Ichigo while they’d been celebrating his halfpipe win. It felt warmer, more inviting and with a few items lying loose that seemed to be missing the last time she’d been here.

As she glanced around she removed her jacket, leaving her navy blue Irish sweater on but she knew it wouldn’t be long before that too was stripped away. Rukia turned toward him and he smiled opening his arms in invitation and Rukia needed no further instructions. She smiled back shyly before crossing the room and stepping into his embrace. Toshiro’s arms wound around her and he buried his nose in her hair.

Rukia smiled against his chest, the weight of the last few days melting away but she still had so many things she wanted to say and do and apologise for, she didn’t know where to begin. Thankfully, Toshiro was the first to speak.

‘I didn’t think they were going to let us go,’ he chuckled.

It was true his family had seemed determined to drag him out celebrating and Rukia couldn’t blame them. She’d have happily gone along with it, not wanting to take this night away from him or the Shiba family. However Rangiku had interjected and instead of prying him away to get hammered (which Rukia would have expected the tall woman to do) she seemed determined to get him laid instead. She’d loudly exclaimed that the only thing Toshiro wanted to do… was Rukia.

‘Thank god for Rangiku,’ Rukia laughed, remembering the scene fondly and the look of horror that had crossed Toshiro’s face. Toshiro groaned at this, as if even just the memory caused him discomfort.

Rukia had not thought much about what would come after the chat, she just hoped that they’d make up. After Rangiku’s loud announcement, everyone started planning who would sleep in whose rooms, Rukia had a sudden wave of inspiration. She’d gone to her room to pick up a few things before Soi Fon locked herself away with a girl for the night, and collected her overnight bag. She’d also picked up her medical records.

Every single partner Rukia had been with she’d always used a condom, despite being on birth control. The birth control was simply to stop her getting pregnant since condoms could split but the condoms were for prevention of diseases. Toshiro might never have been her first lover, in fact the only first he claimed had been slow sex, but she wanted to do something more to show him that she was serious about this. Rukia was going to ask him if he wanted to sleep with her without a condom, and the paperwork was her way of proving to him that she was clean and that she was on birth control.

The stories of his ex-girlfriend pretending to be pregnant still haunted her and she didn’t want him to be in the awkward situation where he’d feel uncomfortable asking or voicing distrust because of his previous situations. No, it was just easier if she handed him the paperwork to see for himself and then let him work it out.

Toshiro’s finger tilted her chin up and Rukia glanced up at him, those bright teal eyes she’d missed so much seemed to look down at her with an array of different emotions fluttering across his gaze. He leaned down and Rukia accepted his kiss happily. She didn’t fight him for control, she just let him lead and he seemed to be doing his best to say a lot of things with just this simple physical act.

‘I missed you,’ Toshiro breathed when they broke apart. Rukia felt her face break out in a stupid love sick smile, thankfully he didn’t see it because he’d rested his forehead against hers and seemed content to look into her eyes.

‘I missed you too,’ she murmured back, closing her eyes before ducking down to snuggle back up against his chest. She could hear the steady thrum of his strong heart pressed against her ear and she tightened her hold on him. ‘I thought I lost you forever.’

She couldn’t help but remember the crash, the thing that had really jolted her feelings back into reality and she never ever wanted to experience pain like that ever again. His arms tightened around her in response to the pathetic whimper in her voice.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. Rukia shook her head and pulled back, finally wanting to explain her behaviour so the two of them could move on from it.

‘No, I should be sorry, I fucked up with that guy,’ she grimaced at him.

‘Yuzu said you didn’t-’

‘I didn’t,’ Rukia said quickly, hearing the slightly panicked note in his voice, ‘I posted that picture though and I did it to lash out at you. I wanted to hurt you and I did and I’ve never hated anything more. I am so sorry Toshiro.’

It wasn’t perhaps the most articulate apology she could muster but it was all she could do without rehearsal and the genuine emotion in her voice seemed to subdue him. He shook his head now and pulled her back against his chest.

‘It’s okay,’ Toshiro muttered, ‘it’s in the past now, let’s not dwell on it. I want to focus on our future.’

Rukia swallowed and nodded, that was right, their future.

‘I want that too,’ she murmured. ‘How am I supposed to let you go home in two days’ time?’ the thought was almost terrifying. Vivid images of her lonely apartment returning to her and knowing that he would be on the other side of the world to her. Toshiro sighed, he seemed just as distained with the idea as she was.

‘I don’t know, Rukia,’ he replied, ‘but we’re going to see each other again soon, right? I won that bet.’

Rukia grinned into his chest. She was excited about seeing him on his home turf, maybe getting to learn about how he trained there, where he grew up and went to school. There was so much about him she still didn’t know and that she was excited for.

‘I can’t wait for April,’ she replied.

Rukia felt his lips brush the top of her head before he was leading them in the direction of his bed. He stripped off his medal, placing it carefully down on the table and Rukia barely resisted telling him to keep it on. _Barely._ His green Aussie jacket was removed and Rukia bent down to pull her shoes off, aware that they were getting ready to settle down for the night. He slipped under the covers and she joined him after a few seconds battling with laces. He turned to face her and Rukia smiled up at him, his face propped on his elbow as he gazed down at her. Rukia loved the scent of his bed, it was comforting and warm to her despite the sheets being cold. This was home to her now, he was home.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ Toshiro murmured and Rukia huffed, feeling the colour flood her cheeks as he grinned at her reaction. Though Rukia was trying to get better at the emotional stuff, she still wasn’t an expert yet, so resorted to physical as retaliation and pulled him down for a kiss. Their last one had been a softer, reuniting, but Rukia was now growing more desperate to move things along, she wanted to show him, in so many ways, what he meant to her. Deepening the kiss, she felt him hum in agreement before his arms were around her and pulling her on top of him. She broke away only for a second to stop their teeth clashing as her legs straddled his waist and then her lips were back on his.

It was clear he had no self-control because it only took a few seconds before she felt his hands squeezing her ass. Rukia laughed and pulled back, feeling elated and warmth spreading through her that was so much more than sexual desire.

‘I’ve got something to show you,’ Rukia said, unable to hide the innuendo that laced the statement.

‘Oh?’ Toshiro’s interest was piqued and Rukia slipped off the bed and across the room. She picked up her jacket and pulled out her medical records which she’d folded into a tiny square and stuffed into the pocket before hastily leaving her room. She moved back towards the bed. Rukia climbed back into her previous position, grinning and wondering how long it would take him to figure out what she was trying to say as she handed him the papers.

‘What is it?’ Toshiro asked unfolding the sheets of paper.

‘Just read it,’ she chuckled.

Rukia studied his stunning face as his eyes travelled across the heading. Compression dawning only to be replaced with confusion again as he no doubt recognised the document but was wonder why the hell she’d given it to him.

He seemed to be giving it a very through reading as if looking for something specific and Rukia had to bite her lower lip to stop herself from giggling at the adorably confused look now etched on his face.

‘I mean, I’m glad you’re healthy?’ he glanced up at her clearly not sure where she was going with this at all. She laughed loudly in response, only just pulling it back to a giggle at the pathetic little pout that adorned his features.

‘I’m very healthy, thank you, I don’t have any diseases or infections.’

She was sure that’d have been the money shot, he was an intelligent guy after all. But the comprehension did not dawn on his face and instead he continued to look just as baffled as he had done the moment she’d first given it to him.

‘I’m… happy for you?’

‘No diseases or infections,’ Rukia repeated it slower this time, wondering affectionately how the hell this guy got through college, ‘especially none of the _sexually_ transmitted variety.’

As if to help him understand she ground her hips down against him and the effect was immediate. ‘Oh,’ understanding replaced the confusion on his face, immediately followed by a flush of embarrassment as he glanced back at the sheet of paper, _‘oh.’_

‘You don’t want to use a condom?’ he asked, his eyes finding hers again.

‘Well I’m clean and protected against pregnancy…’ Rukia half shrugged with a smile, of course she’d not push it on him if he wasn’t keen on the idea. She understood that people could fake paperwork and he’d already been badly hurt by someone he had once trusted. She wouldn’t blame him at all if he said he’d rather they use protection.

‘Me too,’ Toshiro said fair too quickly that Rukia realised he was just as excited by this idea as she was, ‘I’ve never had an STD and uh, I don’t have a uterus.’

‘Glad to hear it,’ Rukia smirked at him. Toshiro pushed himself up, his hands falling onto her hips and she felt his thumbs rubbing circles into the skin in the gap between her top and leggings.

‘If we go no condoms, we need to use more lube, and you need to tell me if it’s hurting too much okay?’

His concern was unnecessary but rather adorable. Rukia smiled at him and nodded.

‘I will, I want to feel you properly,’ she replied, Toshiro grinned and ducked to kiss her cheek.

‘I want that too,’ he murmured before his lips were on hers. This time there was more urgency to the way his lips moved against hers. She could feel her body heating up, responding, that need to be close to someone, to be physical with someone lurching strongly in her. Rukia pushed it back and reminded herself that this wasn’t just some guy, this was Toshiro and she cared deeply for him. Tonight it was about them. Rukia began to roll her hips to grind down against him and it earned a groan from the white haired snowboarder.

The familiar feeling of his kisses, the way his tongue danced against her own was enough to set her skin on fire. Rukia could feel the need bubbling below the surface, heating her from the inside. Toshiro eventually detached himself from her lips and she gulped mouthfuls of the room air, the scent of his drying clothing, the scent of whatever faded deodorant he’d used that morning catching in the back of her throat and adding to that feeling of familiarity and comfort.

His lips attached onto the base of her throat and she tilted her neck eagerly. Toshiro still clearly remembered all the spots she enjoyed and as soon as his lips found one, she gave a moan of longing. His teeth grazed the sensitive spot on her throat and her hands ran up and down his back, wishing to claw at the skin under her nails but refraining for the moment.

Then they were kissing again, Toshiro’s hands reaching for her ass where he gave her a gentle spank. Rukia groaned into the kiss, the feeling was a reminder of their time in the shower which had been some of the best sex she’d ever had. It reminded her vividly of the thought that no matter how familiar and comforting they could be with each other the raw aggressive sex she loved so much was still always available. Rukia swallowed back her moan of longing and instead focused her attention on ripping his shirt off and pushing him down against the bed. The image reminded her so much of their first night together, his bare pearly skin dewing with a faint dusting of sweat, his eyes blown dark with lust and his muscles contracting and relaxing with each rugged breath he drew.

This was exactly how she liked him.

Rukia followed him down, laying her body over his and captured his lips in a softer kiss. It was important that Toshiro understood he could have her both ways as well, the rough raw sex that she loved and the slow and passionate love making that he had introduced her too. She followed this up with taking the time to map along his jaw with her mouth and teeth. She kissed his face, his neck and explored his throat before dropping to his collarbone and hearing him grunt his approval.

Rukia spent a bit of extra time around the area, leaving her own marks against his skin and feeling him squirm and harden beneath her. She continued to grind her hips down on him and eventually he vocalised his frustrations.

‘Fuck, Rukia,’ Toshiro gasped, his voice low and seductive, ‘you have no idea how much I want you.’

‘Patience,’ Rukia chuckled back at him, ‘I want to explore all of you. I regretted not doing it earlier.’

When the words left her mouth she realised how true they were. It had felt like Toshiro had taken the time to fully map out her body but she’d never done it back to him and now this was her chance. Her kisses made their way down his chest across his abs and finally down to where the deep V muscle ran into his trousers.

‘I have missed you,’ Rukia sighed contently, studying the way his skin was stretched finely over the muscle. Toshiro lifted his head to gaze down at her and she winked at the confused expression on his face.

Rukia sat back up and ground herself against the hard bulge in his trousers again, watching his head fall back and a groan of longing spill from his lips. She loved this, she loved dominating him, being in charge of him and having him completely at her mercy. A wicked grin spread across her face for a few moments as she thought longingly of their future together, of all the times she’d have to be able to treat him this way.

Not wanting to drag this out for him though and understanding this was his night to celebrate his first ever gold medal Rukia moved off him to pull his trousers down. Not wasting time she pulled his boxers down and together they came off in one, his cock springing free and falling back on his stomach with a dull thud.

‘I really missed you,’ she whispered to the thick appendage and it was true. Rukia wasn’t used to going for so long without a cock inside her at a competition and yet this was the only one she craved. His chuckle was cut off the moment she wrapped her finger around the base and began to stroke up.

‘I think the only time we haven’t used a condom was when I sucked you off under the table,’ Rukia said playfully, ‘though I am not sure if that counts.’ Her face was so close to him, she could smell the musky undertones of his hormones through the skin and she longed to wrap her mouth back around him.

‘It counts for me,’ Toshiro replied, ‘that was the first blow job I ever received.’

Her hand froze and she blinked in shock. She knew he’d had sexual partners before and even girlfriends which had sounded like they’d been pretty serious. How on earth could it be that she’d been his first blowjob?

‘What?’

Their eyes met and he seemed almost upset about it.

‘Yeah, no other girl has ever done it,’ Toshiro shrugged and Rukia frowned. She wanted to ask why but even from where she sat with her hand wrapped around the base of his cock she could probably understand. It’d be almost impossible to deep-throat without dislocating your jaw but a blowjob didn’t have to be full insertion into the mouth. The head was the most important part, surely all women knew that? The rest you could reach with a well lubricated hand.

‘So I guess congratulations? For taking my blow job virginity,’ he seemed amused but Rukia felt awful, she felt so horrible that she didn’t even hear what he said after that.

That blowjob under the table had been his first? She’d never have guessed that, and now she felt terrible for it because she’d run away from him immediately after it. He must have felt so awful. Rukia sighed, it was just another notch in her abysmally selfish belt.

She watched him for a moment, wondering how she could make it up to him… another blowjob would be the best place to start but something he’d said to her before when they were in the hot tub came floating back to her mind. Rukia stood up and walked over to the minibar. Inside was a little pull out shelf with some frozen ice in it. She selected two of the smallest sized block.

‘Rukia?’ Toshiro had called after her and as she made her way back it was to see he’d now made his way to the edge of the bed as if he were planning to get up. There was a gentle frown on his face, the confusion prominent and she smiled softly at him.

‘I’m going to give you a proper blowjob,’ she grinned and lowered herself to her knees between his legs. Subconsciously or consciously his legs spread a little to give her better access, the look on his face displaying evident continued confusion before she popped the two bits of ice into her mouth and grasped his cock. She gave the tip a gentle kiss then engulfed the head, taking in as much as she could with the ice in her cheeks.

Toshiro’s gasp echoed around the room, his body shivering under hers and a hand sliding into her hair in encouragement.

‘Fuck,’ the word hissed as Rukia moved her tongue around the head and up over the slit. The ice wouldn’t last much longer, next to the heat of his flaming skin and the heat of her moist mouth, but it didn’t take long before he was moaning and babbling nonsensical words of encouragement.

‘Ru-kia,’ he panted, ‘fuck, Rukia. I-I need y-you.’

Rukia knew he probably didn’t wish for the night to end with just a blowjob and like her was hoping that he’d climax inside her instead. That was the point of doing tonight without a condom after all. Toshiro was definitely thinking along the same lines, his body twitched and writhed as he worked hard to keep himself under control but eventually that control snapped.

‘Rukia, shit,’ he gasped pushing her back so that his cock fell out her mouth, ‘you’re gonna kill me.’

Rukia chuckled, wiped her mouth and crunched the tiny remains of the ice before swallowing it down along with the taste of the pre-cum that had been beading at the tip of his dick.

‘Good?’ she asked crawling back up onto the bed and onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled his head against her shoulder, his pants coming out slower and slower.

‘Fucking amazing,’ he breathed.

They stayed like that for a while as Toshiro worked to get his breathing under control, then Rukia let him take the lead as he reached up to kiss her. The kiss was tender and was only broken as he turned, flipping them around so that he was on top. His hands tugging at her jumper and t-shirt as he pulled them up over her head in one go. Rukia barely had time to fix her hair before he unlatched the clip on the back of her bra and sent that off onto the floor somewhere too. Blinking at the sudden quickness of his actions she felt his hand dip into the waistband of her leggings and began to rub her through her underwear. Rukia barely had time to react, his teeth found her nipple and she went limp against him as he played and toyed with her most erogenous zones. He seemed to have an air of desperation about him that would have had Rukia grinning in triumph if it weren’t for the fact he was abusing all the right places on her body at that exact moment.

The first finger slid in with practiced ease and Rukia groaned at the feeling of the intrusion, he worked it for a few moments before adding the second. His lips and teeth moved away from her left nipple to her right as his fingers began to gently stretch her walls. Rukia slid a hand into his hair and tugged, knowing it was another weakness for him and feeling his fingers speed up just a little.

‘Toshiro,’ she groaned just before he added a third finger and causing her to gasp. ‘F-fuck.’

Her hand tightened in his snowy locks and this time it earned a muffled moan from Toshiro, he finally pulled back from her and worked her leggings down with one hand, clearly not wanting to remove his fingers which were still deep inside her. She helped by lifting her ass up off the bed and allowing the garment to be tossed onto the floor, leaving her completely bare before him.

Only then did he seem to pause, his fingers unmoving inside her as he stared down. His dark teal eyes flying over her skin like he was trying to memorise it.

‘Toshiro,’ Rukia’s voice held a bit of a warning to it.

‘Fucking gorgeous,’ he muttered, his eyes finally finding hers again.

‘Fuck me,’ she growled at him, trying to remind him why they were in this current position.

Toshiro chuckled but his fingers at least began to continue their earlier progress. His face ducked down and Rukia spread her legs further for him, his tongue finding her clit this time and he wasted no time in abusing it.

‘F-fuck,’ she gasped, a moan tearing from her throat. She wasn’t even sure what language she was now swearing in. Between his fingers and his tongue she could feel the sweat slicking her body, the fire burning deep inside her, heart pounding, rushing passed her eardrums and she moaned once more loudly.

‘Toshiro, s-stop, I’m g-gonna c-come,’ Rukia hissed desperately and prayed to god she’d used English and that he’d understood.

Toshiro pulled away from her, looking far too smug and pleased with himself. She huffed and shoved him off, flipping their positions before reaching across the bed to his top drawer where she knew he kept his lube and condoms. This time though, she only pulled one back with her, ignoring the condoms entirely she poured a fat dollop of lube onto her hand before sliding back onto his lap.

Knowing that the cold sensation of the lube wouldn’t bother him, Rukia didn’t heat it on her hand and instead grasped him firmly and began to stroke up and down his shaft, making sure every thick inch of it was covered. He let her take complete control allowing her to decide the pace that they’d set.

Rukia rose up and slowly sunk down, letting every inch of him slide inside her. The lube made it easy but the stretch was still there. She could feel the burning in her walls and relished it, welcomed it, welcomed _him._

‘Fuck,’ she murmured, smiling a little and finally looked back at him.

‘Does it hurt?’ Toshiro asked, the concern evident in his tone.

‘It feels amazing,’ Rukia sighed contently.

Toshiro did nothing to spur her on, letting her set the pace and she did so, starting shallow and slow to begin with. She lifted herself up and sunk back down on him. Making noises of content between them, Toshiro put his hands on her hips to help steady her as she began to speed things up. Once a faster pace had been set, Toshiro couldn’t seem to stop himself and his hands slid around her back, grasping her ass and enjoying the feeling of her muscles as she worked hard to raise herself up and fall back down.

Toshiro spanked her again, harder this time and she moaned in response, the sting of her skin adding an extra spike of pleasure coursing through her.

Rukia swore again before she slowed down, her pace less shallow, rising up and lowering herself down with longer strokes. Then she rose up until just the tip was inside and slammed back down, earning a gasp from Toshiro.

‘Sh-shit,’ he hissed as Rukia did it again.

‘Toshiro,’ she groaned knowing the sound of his name usually drove him mad.

‘Rukia,’ he gasped, his hands gripping her with an iron like grasp, ‘I’m going to come if you d-don’t st-stop.’

‘Good, c-come inside me,’ she commanded. Her voice come out as a deep rasp but Toshiro seemed to have another idea. In just a second, she was flat on her back, the movement doing interesting things to where they were joined and earning a moan from her throat at the harsh treatment. He thrust fully back inside her and pulled one of her legs up over his shoulder to allow him deeper access.

Her voice choked around his name and his lips found hers as her nails dug fiercely into his back. Toshiro set a brutal pace that had her being shoved up the bed a couple of centimetres at a time. Rukia didn’t need to hear the call of her name to lock eyes with him. His handsome dark teal gaze framed by the thick eyelashes and his forehead sweaty with the effort of fucking her.

Toshiro’s hands slid under her and lifted her ass up off the bed, his thrusts driving her wild and one sharp spank to her skin coupled with a deep thrust had her coming hard. Rukia moaned his name, feeling him spill heavily inside her, the feeling so unusual so alien that it added an extra layer to her arousal and she panted hard to regain herself as he slumped against her.

‘Far out,’ he gasped.

‘Far out indeed,’ she chuckled breathlessly back at him.

Rukia’s fingers were glossing up and down his sweaty back, loving the feeling of the muscles as he continued to try and get his breathing under control.

They lay together like that for a while, basking in the afterglow and living in the moment, but eventually Toshiro rolled away to pull Rukia on top of him. This position was much easier, now that her airways weren’t as restricted with his weight on her and she found it easier to get her breath back. What Rukia wasn’t prepared for was the feeling of his cock slipping out and the semen that followed it, she made a face into his chest. That would take some getting used to.

They lay in their new position for a while longer before the need to go and clean up became too overpowering and Rukia slipped off the bed to make her way to the bathroom. Not quite having a full shower, she simply took a damp cloth to the worst areas before allowing Toshiro access.

Rukia stole another of his t-shirts and they slipped into bed together, curling up against each other. Toshiro gently stroked a finger across her face, brushing her hair from her eyes, exactly the same he had done on that first night when she’d pretended to be asleep. A soft smile adorned her face as his lips found her forehead.

‘Good night,’ Toshiro murmured.

‘G’night,’ she mumbled back at him, pressing herself even closer trying to steal his warmth.

Next to his comforting scent and the heat, and the feeling of content that bubbled under the surface of her skin, she found herself easily falling asleep.

When she woke the next morning it was to the feel of Toshiro’s arms tightening around her, spooning her and a kiss being pressed into the back of her neck. Rukia gave a soft hum and snuggled down into the covers.

‘Good morning, Beautiful,’ he murmured following his words up with a kiss to her shoulder.

‘Morning, Handsome,’ she chuckled feeling a little giddy at the use of pet names. Gin had always used them with his exes and Rukia had never understood, why didn’t people just use their partners’ names? Now she understood.

They were endearing, a name that only your significant other could get away with calling you.

Rukia rolled over to face him, grinning and with a warm smile Toshiro ducked down to peck her lips.

‘Can you believe that in twenty-four hours’ time, we’ll be at the airport?’ he said brushing a strand of hair from her eyes.

Why did he have to ruin the moment, Rukia sighed unhappily and shoved him as harshly as her tired muscles could manage which just left him chuckling.

‘Don’t remind me,’ Rukia grimaced and felt him peck her cheek.

‘Are you still sure you want to have a long-distance relationship?’ his hand found hers under the covers and Rukia sighed contently again. How could she ever not want this? Of course it would be difficult for them, especially her, being so far away from the object of her affection but Rukia knew she didn’t have a lot of years left in her sport. At age 25 she was practically an old woman in the figure skating world and would only be skating for another year or two before she retired.

That was a topic she wasn’t really ready to talk about though.

‘Positive,’ Rukia said firmly and watched as some tension seemed to leak away from his face and shoulders, as if he’d been mentally preparing himself for a different answer. ‘I want us to be exclusive.’

Mostly because the thought of him being with anyone else made her feel ill.

‘Definitely,’ Toshiro sighed back.

After a small pause where he seemed to be contemplating he spoke again.

‘It will be hard,’ he said, ‘the whole thing I mean. We’ll be on opposite time zones.’

That was true, Oz was on the complete other side of the world to Ireland and it wouldn’t be like they’d have the same competitions either. Rangiku and Gin and Renji and Ichigo were all in the same sports so their competitions would be taking place together and Rukia would be away doing figure skating contests in totally different countries. The thought made her heart sink, it would be really difficult but worth it. She tightened her hold on his hand under the covers.

‘We’ll have to communicate,’ Rukia smirked a little before rolling her eyes, ‘hopefully better than we’ve been doing it here.’

Rukia was confident they’d manage that much. She was going to be strict with herself and her feelings from now on, allowing herself to have and experience them but also communicating them to the people who mattered the most to her. Rukia had Byakuya on side now and she knew she’d be able to talk to him about anything she was worrying or concerning herself with.

‘Okay,’ Toshiro released a breath he’d been holding. ‘Maybe we set a time each day to call each other? We tell each other about our day and how we’re feeling. We’ll be completely honest, no secrets… even if that means admitting that something’s not working.’

‘I agree,’ Rukia murmured back, ‘and if we can’t make the daily phone call for whatever reason, we’ll let each other know as soon as possible so no one is left waiting and worrying.’

Toshiro was nodding even before she’d finished speaking, clearly on the same wavelength. Besides it wasn’t like they couldn’t do anything long distance, the world of skype was a beautiful thing and she was sure they could utilise it to the best of their abilities going forward. She’d invest in a decent webcam and encourage him to do the same, or just buy him one, preferably in 4k because if she was going to see that thick cock of his it had better be in the best quality money could afford.

‘And Byakuya is cool with it?’ Toshiro asked and Rukia covered her gag with a small cough. That had not been a name she’d wanted to hear while she was picturing Toshiro naked.

‘Yeah,’ she recovered, ‘he supports us.’

The doubt was etched into the lines on his face, and she watched as it darkened with concern over the thought. She knew that he must be worried about her brother wanting to potentially end their relationship, because up until the previous evening he’d done nothing at all to show his investment in it.

‘I know, I know,’ Rukia said hastily. Then feeling the need to explain she quickly filled him in on what had happened to her sister’s grave and what Byakuya had been dealing with. It was important Toshiro understood this to help him empathise a little with what her brother had been going through for the last two weeks.

Toshiro’s face darkened with understanding, he pulled Rukia closer to him under the covers and held her as she explained. It was difficult to talk about, but import that he knew.

‘I’m happy you two sorted it out,’ he said, sincerity evident in his voice, ‘I was able to sort things out with my brother too, so I know how much of a relief it is.’

Rukia grinned up at him, pleased to be moving away from the topic of her sister’s grave.

‘I thought so,’ she said, ‘Ichigo was so excited to see you competing yesterday, and seemed genuinely happy that you won the gold.’

Toshiro practically beamed at these words and Rukia felt another rush of affection for him. He was truly her opposite in every way, wanting, unselfishly for the people in his life to be happy and healthy. He cared so deeply for the people around him, his friends and family it was almost unbearable to watch but Rukia wanted to be more like him. She wanted to become less self-absorbed and focus more on the people in her life, learning to love and care for them the way she was slowly starting to feel about Toshiro. 

Toshiro beamed at her for a moment before ducking down to capture her lips, this time he held the kiss. Rukia could feel his smile against her lips then he moved down to her neck and she felt him kiss over a stiff bruise. She hadn’t even remembered him biting her last night but was glad she’d have a fresh mark that would follow her back to Ireland. True she’d have to cover it up with makeup because of the paparazzi but she’d still be able to feel the dull throb each time she moved her neck and know that it was there.

‘And how do you feel about phone sex?’ he whispered, and Rukia smirked, tilting her neck to give him more access. She caressed his back, understanding where the cheeky smile on his lips had come from. 

‘I’m pro phone sex,’ she replied, ‘how do you feel about sending dirty pictures?’ she asked. Rukia knew that they’d already been beating around the bush with that one, given that her current phone background was him naked lying on his front with a cheeky hint of his bum on show. Rukia absolutely adored that picture and was excited to see what else she could coax him into sending her.

‘I’m pro sending dirty pictures,’ Toshiro replied between kisses against her throat. Rukia was finding it very hard to focus on their current conversation given that his lips were doing a perfect job at distracting her. ‘Just don’t show them to Gin.’

She laughed, ‘now that I can’t promise.’

In response he bit down on the hickey on her neck and Rukia hissed in pain and pleasure. She knew that Toshiro was quite a private person and the thought of her sharing his dirty pictures would make him a uncomfortable. Gin probably wouldn’t want to see them anyway. He’d be happy with the knowledge that they were happening but Rukia would still offer because he was her friend and that’s just the kind of relationship they had.

Gin might not even have a choice in seeing them anyway, given that some of them may end up as her phones background.

Toshiro’s lips found hers again and they were kissing, this time the pecks weren’t lingering, a hot heavy tension lay in the air between them and Toshiro was deepening the kiss, taking her bottom lip into his mouth and sucking on it, the way she normally did with his. Rukia felt her breaths coming out in a pant, he moved a little over her to get better access and she could feel his semi hard member pressing against her naked thigh.

Rukia was about to spread her legs, give him the hint that he was so desperately after when there was a knock at the door.

Rukia groaned her disappointment into his mouth, hoping he’d ignore it.

‘Yoohoo!’ Rangiku’s voice cut through the silence, ‘let me in!’

Toshiro groaned this time and pulled away, collapsing face first into his pillows. His reaction caused Rukia to laugh, she was just as turned on as he was and was hoping for that to shape into some solid morning sex but there was nothing they could do now that _his_ annoying best friend was at the door. Rangiku would proceed to ensure the entire floor of their hotel would know he and Rukia were getting it on if they didn’t open the door and let her in right now.

Rukia slipped out of bed and made her way toward the source of the knocking. Thankfully she still had Toshiro’s shirt covering all her modesty and it wasn’t like Rangiku hadn’t seen a naked girl before anyway. Toshiro had obviously ditched his boxers during the night but he had covers to cover himself with and if Rangiku ripped them off him, it would just provide Rukia with a hilarious show.

‘Don’t let her in,’ Toshiro hissed at her, clearly noticing his situation but too late Rukia had opened the door to an overly keen Rangiku who stumbled into the room as if she’d had her ear pressed against the door.

‘Oh good, you’re dressed,’ the tall snowboarder smirked at Rukia and Rukia noticed that she too was dressed but far more appropriately than herself. ‘Get up, we’re going out.’

‘Where to?’ Rukia asked curiously turning to watch as Rangiku made her way further inside and leaned against the desk. Rukia shut the door, Toshiro was stubbornly refusing to get out of bed.

‘We’re getting tattoos,’ Rangiku said happily, ‘all of us, so come on!’

‘What?’ Toshiro asked, lifting his head up from where it was buried in the pillows to look at her.

‘Yeah, matching Olympics-themed tattoos,’ Rangiku’s voice grew more shrill as her excitement bubbled closer to the surface. She really was just a giant kid. Seeing the continued confused and blearily look on Toshiro’s face – that Rukia struggled not to laugh at – Rangiku went on to explain.

‘Well last night when we all departed,’ she paused to wriggle her eyebrows at him and Rukia snorted her laugh into her hand, ‘Renji convinced Ichigo to get a tattoo with him and at the same time Jinta and Yuzu were talking about doing the same thing. When they found out Ichigo and Renji were doing it they decided to get similar ones and then Yuzu volunteered you because she said “he’s got heaps of tattoos already” and then they figured maybe Rukia would like to join but once they told me I had to join in too because I ain’t being left out of that and so Gin is coming with me and he convinced Soi Fon.’

She beamed at them both after she finished and Rukia was silently praising her skills to tell them the majority of that story with only one breath.

‘So we’re all going to get the Olympic Rings,’ Rangiku continued to explain, ‘and something unique to do with our sports.’

Rukia had already been on board the moment she’d said tattoo, she’d been thinking of getting a new one for a while now but hadn’t had a good reason or a good enough idea until now.

‘That actually sounds pretty cool,’ Rukia decided, turning to glance at Toshiro and gauge his reaction. A group tattoo was something she’d never done before and even if things between her and Toshiro didn’t work out, she knew she’d want to remember this Olympics for the rest of her life. It was likely her last Olympics anyway, given that in another 4 years she’d be 29 and probably retired from the figure skating world.

Toshiro seemed to consider things for a moment and Rukia had to wonder if maybe he was unsure because he didn’t know how their relationship was going to turn out, but it wasn’t like these tattoos were only going to be on them, most of his family and his friends were going to have them as well. It was also the first time he’d won gold at the Olympics and the first Olympics he’d ever been too, so surely all of that was worth immortalising as a tattoo?

‘Fine,’ Toshiro sighed and Rukia and Rangiku both squealed. Rangiku held her hand up and Rukia high-fived it once she’d lowered it low enough for Rukia to reach without revealing the no underwear situation.

‘Alright get your asses in gear and meet us down in the lobby in ten minutes.’

Rangiku fled from the room, likely to go and rouse Gin who, if Rukia knew well enough, would have tried to fall back asleep in Rangiku’s absence.

‘Put your underwear on Shiba,’ Rukia sassed the moment Rangiku was out the room, there was not going to be enough time for a quickie but she was sure they could fit something in at some point over their remaining hours.

‘Say’s you,’ Toshiro huffed back, but he did slide out of bed. The sight of him was almost enough to distract Rukia so when he suggested they shower together to save time she jumped at the idea.

Lathering each other up under the fall of the water, in the tightly compacted space was not as intimate as she’d have liked but Toshiro seemed to be enjoying himself, if only because of the stolen kisses they shared as they washed. Rukia had to genuinely hold herself back from grabbing his half hard member and giving it a few strokes. It wouldn’t take much at all to convince him to be late but the thought of Rangiku coming back up for them had her restraining herself… _barely._

They dressed at speed and Rukia dried her hair as fast as she could, throwing it up in a messy bun on her head which several strands fell down out of. Arriving down in the lobby it was clear that they’d been the last ones informed about this endeavour, Gin yawned widely and Rukia smirked at him, wondering if Rangiku had him up late last night.

‘Oh good afternoon,’ Ichigo called to them, Rukia’s eyes slid to the clock on the wall behind him, it was just after 10am! ‘What time do you call this?’

Clearly teasing his little brother Toshiro pounced on him and ended up in a headlock by the taller and more capable Shiba. Rukia didn’t care enough to help him and didn’t have the modesty to look even remotely embarrassed by his observations.

‘Have a late one?’ Rukia asked Gin instead who simply grinned down at her in response causing her to chuckle. She was really happy for him, elated that he’d finally had the courage to make some kind of a move on Rangiku and trust that he was worthy enough for her attention.

‘Okay, okay,’ Rangiku laughed breaking up the brotherly squabble, ‘break it up, girls. We’ve got tatts to get.’

Rukia joined in the rousing cheer from the group at these words, which earned them all curious glances from the surrounding staff members and athletes mulling around.

‘I won that round,’ Ichigo smirked and winked at Rukia.

‘Yeah, yeah old man, in your dreams,’ Toshiro scoffed but Rukia pursed her lips to stop her agreeing with Ichigo. He most certainly had won that round.

The giant IreAussie group made their way toward the village. All around them were signs of a good time, bottles hidden away in the snow and occasionally an empty condom packet that hadn’t been cleaned away by the cleaning crew. Rukia pointed one or two of them out to Toshiro and the two of them were left laughing at the insatiable appetite some athletes seemed to have when it came to sex at the end of a competition.

Talk eventually slipped back to the tattoo ideas with various people deciding what they were going to get alongside their rings and even googling pictures. Rukia was surprised to see Karin coming and was convinced she was going to get something to show support to her family, but she fell in step with Toshiro and, wanting to give them a private moment to chat, Rukia sped up to walk and talk with Gin and Rangiku about their ideas.

As soon as they arrived at the place, Rukia realised just how well orchestrated this event was, as Rangiku had already called them that morning to book them all in. Toshiro volunteered Jinta to go first and not wanting to look like a pussy in front of their entire crew he bravely stepped up to the chair.

Toshiro seemed beyond happy with this and smirked at the other male maliciously as he started to tell the tattoo artist what he wanted. The tattoo artist did a quick sketch, taking reference from a picture that Jinta showed him on his phone and then applied it to his skin, on the outside of his left ankle. Their tattoos were to be fairly basic, so wouldn’t take as much time to complete as the more detailed and in-depth tattoos would.

Each time the needle touched Jinta’s skin, Toshiro and Ichigo’s faces lit up in a way Rukia had never seen before. She pursed her lips against making a comment about it and instead tried to focus on the conversation she was having with Gin about the medal ceremonies.

Yuzu was next in the chair, getting her tattoo on the other ankle so that when she stood beside Jinta they’d have them facing each other.

With Yuzu now under the needle, the looks on Ichigo and Toshiro’s faces changed dramatically. They seemed to wince each time she did and when Rukia pointed this startling difference out to Gin the two of them had a good giggle to themselves about it. Thankfully that seemed to go unnoticed by the group as Yuzu slid out the chair only to be replaced with Karin.

‘Wait what are you getting?’ Ichigo asked and Toshiro looked just as curious.

‘No one is allowed to see,’ she smirked at them, pushing her dark hair from her face as she leaned in to talk with the tattoo artist and flashed her device at him. The man asked Karin to forward him the picture and was off mulling around his computer as he transferred it to paper which could then be put on her skin and as he did that Karin called out to Rukia.

Interest piqued, Rukia made her way over to the twin and leaned forward as Karin whispered eagerly in her ear.

With each word she spoke, Rukia’s eyes grew wider and she chanced a sneak glance at Toshiro who had been her source of entertainment to watch through this whole process. He was pouting like a child and Rukia didn’t manage to hide her grin in time. Karin was going to get a tattoo of a basic compass, but instead of the dials pointing North, South, East and West the directions were replaced with the family names, Toshiro, Isshin, Yuzu and Ichigo.

‘It’s going to look so good when it’s done,’ Rukia whispered to her and Karin agreed, as they watched the needle go down on her skin time and time again, slowly more of the detail filled in.

Karin’s tattoo took the longest to do, time coming in at just over an hour with some basic colouring it was the most complex of anyone’s so far, but when it was done it shone beautifully and proudly on her skin. The tattoo artist sprayed and wiped, allowing her to show the family before he wrapped it in clingfilm.

‘I love it,’ Karin breathed after it was finished and Rukia nodded.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Rukia agreed.

Jumping up from the chair she made her way over to the other Shiba’s and flashed her tattoo eagerly. Even Gin and Soi Fon leaned in eagerly to see what had been done. There was a beats silence as her siblings processed what they were looking at. Rangiku finally stole a glance over the shoulders of them all as Gin moved out the way and cooed loudly once she saw it. Karin hurriedly explained why she’d done it, saying that even though they were all spread out over the world they were still family. Toshiro had come in for a closer look and seemed to be just as choked up as Rukia thought he’d be.

Then they were all hugging, the entire family being pulled into one large cuddle pile that had Rukia’s heart swelling with affection and want. She knew she’d never have a family like that but Rangiku called out to her embarrassingly as she reached for the skater.

‘Come on, Rukia, join the party, future sister-in-law.’

Rukia felt the heat creep up her face and refused to meet Toshiro’s eye. As nice as that prospect was, Rukia wasn’t sure how Toshiro’s family really felt about her yet. Though having Karin show her the tattoo first seemed to be her way of showing Rukia acceptance into the family it wasn’t a definitive from Ichigo or Yuzu. Rukia knew she probably had a long way to go to win everyone’s trust and truly be accepted as a member of the family.

‘I wish I could,’ she laughed, ‘but somebody has to hold his wimps hand.’

She gestured to Gin who was currently being manhandled by Renji into the chair. He looked incredibly apprehensive but Rukia knew under no circumstances would he fully chicken out in front of Rangiku.

The woman in question pulled herself free from the family pile and made her way over to the side of the chair close to Gin. As she stayed beside him, Toshiro and Rukia decided to slip out and get coffee and teas for everyone from a local bakery.

There may have been one or two pastries involved as well, but Toshiro and Rukia took their time, waiting for the coffees to be made by sitting at a table close together in the coffee shop. Toshiro’s eyes were shining with happiness that Rukia had only seen when he’d kissed her after winning gold. The light in his eyes was still there, shining just as vivid as it had done yesterday. They spoke over trivial topics and at one-point Toshiro talked about his love for having such a large family. It made Rukia wonder if a family for them was on his mind just as much as it were on hers.

She loved the idea of holding a little mini them, fighting over whether or not they’d be taught snowboarding or figure skating, who they looked like more. Rukia had to put the mental pictures away before she became too broody, and thankfully that was the moment that the woman shouted that their coffees were done.

Picking them up, Rukia noticed that Toshiro and a couple of the Shiba family members were using keep cups and made a mental note to herself to buy one later.

When they got back to the shop, Gin was finished and so was Soi Fon and Renji. Ichigo had slipped into the chair and Jinta and Yuzu had apparently gone out to stretch their legs. Toshiro didn’t look thrilled at that but brightened up a bit when they came back, and he was able to hand them their hot drinks. Rukia was sure only she spotted the look on his face as he handed Jinta his drink, it seemed more like he wanted to pour it over the boy’s head.

Too soon though, Toshiro was hopping up into the chair, he’d not discussed his idea with Rukia yet and she watched eagerly as he chatted with the tattoo artist and pointed to the outside of his ankle. The artist sketched something onto the paper and Toshiro nodded his head approvingly as it was transferred onto his skin. The needle buzzed to life and Toshiro didn’t seem to wince at all as it touched his skin. Whether or not he was acting tough because Rukia was watching or because he genuinely wasn’t bothered by the pain, Rukia was impressed.

The snowboarder he had was doing a kind of one-handed hand stand on top of the right ring. His board in the air, it was a move that Rukia had seen Toshiro do on his Instagram. After mulling things over she decided to get her tattoo in the exact same spot except dangling from the left bottom ring would be a pair of figure skates hanging by their laces.

After gushing over their tattoos and watching Rangiku squirm over hers, they made their way back up toward the slopes. Their tattoo’s wrapped in clingfilm while they chatted merrily.

‘Dad is going to flip out,’ Yuzu chuckled.

‘You didn’t tell your dad you’re all getting tattoos?’ Renji asked, sounding as surprised as Rukia. She’d have thought that the twins at least would have asked their father even if Ichigo and Toshiro hadn’t.

‘Oh he can’t say shit,’ Karin replied with a scoff, ‘you seen the tattoos on that man?’

Rukia thought she had a fair point, the last time she’d seen Isshin he had been supporting many deeply coloured tattoos. He was the polar opposite of-

‘Oh Byakuya,’ Rukia said stopping. She blinked and couldn’t believe she’d forgotten her brother. Either he would be upset at her new ink or upset that she hadn’t at least invited him along. The group seemed to have paused with her, she could feel their concerned gazes on her face and promptly shrugged.

‘What’s done is done,’ she waved it off and they continued in the direction of the stands for Soi Fon’s Final.

Just like with Gin, Soi Fon had a quarter final and a semi final to compete in before she could make it to the finals. They all filed into seats at the back, since there weren’t enough, Ichigo and Renji chose to stand and cuddle.

Toshiro offered his to his brother, but Ichigo promptly refused, stating that Toshiro wouldn’t be able to see over Ichigo’s head if he were to sit and Toshiro to stand. That earned him a narrowed eyed playful glare from his brother before Toshiro was sitting dutifully beside Rukia. Doing her best to make him feel better (as a girlfriend should) Rukia snuggled closer to him and he threw an arm around her.

‘Tall guys freak me out anyway,’ she mumbled into his jacket.

‘But Gin is your best friend,’ Toshiro pointed out.

‘And have you seen him? Scariest guy alive,’ she shuddered playfully and they both turned to see Gin who’s hand had caught in his mitten and looked like he was on the verge of breaking his own fingers until Rangiku took pity on him. Toshiro and Rukia both chuckled away at their private joke watching as Soi Fon’s group was called.

The Irish girl was shorter than all the other girls on her line up and looked ten times more aggressive than any of them. Indeed, the girl from Canada directly to her right was eyeing her wearily and that caused her to falter on her start.

The IreAussie team were shouting and cheering as the race ensued, watching with bated breath as the girls gathered speed down the slopes. Rukia was clutching her own hands so tightly in front of her she’d forgotten they weren’t in their gloves and didn’t even notice the distinct lack of warmth until Toshiro was taking her hands in his and forcing them apart. His hands which had obviously just come from his mittens were extremely warm and Rukia smiled shyly down at where he now had hers clasped softly in his trying to both warm and comfort her at the same time.

Soi Fon made it over the line in the second position, but it was incredibly close and it was clear that there were some at this contest who were significantly faster than she was. However she’d made it into the Semi Finals and so they cheered appreciatively.

There was a large gap before she’d be expected to ride again and Ichigo and Renji slipped away to get the hot drinks this time. Taking a little longer than was really necessary, Rukia was grateful to have the warm drink in her hands and Toshiro looked pleased too, considering her hands had found their way up under his jacket and onto his bare skin not a moment before.

They drunk and chatted amicably as they waited and turned their attention back to the slope when Gin called out that her group was up next. There she stood, ready for her Semi Finals and looking just as fierce as ever.

It was clear from the moment she dropped that the other athletes in this race had much more speed and about halfway down, Soi Fon and a skater from France who had been doing very well were drastically behind the leaders. Despite that, the IreAussie crew called and cheered and stomped their feet, but it was no good. Soi Fon finished overall in 12th place but didn’t seem too disappointed in her score when they met up with her.

‘I just want to get smashed,’ Soi Fon sighed dramatically and everyone else laughed.

They left the event sharp after the results, not pausing to stay for the medal ceremony and made their way to get ready for the closing ceremony.

Toshiro and Rukia parted but only for a short while as Toshiro only really had to change his outfit, meanwhile Soi Fon and herself both had hair and makeup to get done.

They were halfway through this excursion when Toshiro knocked on their bedroom door. Rukia threw it open and made a gracious comment about the horrible yellow beanie that now sat perched on top of his head.

Unfazed he entered the room with a gentle kiss at the side of her mouth before promptly attacking her. Soi Fon had to leap out of the way of the wrestle with an indigent look on her face, before she started cheering Rukia on. It seemed Toshiro was determined to put his horrid beanie on her head.

After an extensive battle to which Rukia put up a lot of resistance she was man handled to face the mirror wearing the horrible yellow hat which clashed horrendously with her black hair. Glowering at Toshiro in the mirror the exchange ended with Toshiro agreeing to wear Rukia’s Irish green beanie in place of his yellow and Rukia keeping the horrible thing on her head.

At least if it were on her head, she didn’t have to look at it on his. Next to the green of his uniform, the teal eyes and the white hair the yellow just made him look like a packet of Berty Bot’s Every Flavoured Beans.

It was much better this way, and Rukia figured that the fans of their ship would probably think so too.

Once they were all dressed and wearing their medals they made their way down to the hotel lobby of Toshiro’s hotel to meet everyone. Yuzu was particularly excited to see them and Rukia remembered it was because they’d swapped hats.

Her silver medal hung around her neck and she felt proud of it, despite it not being the coveted gold. Meanwhile Toshiro was practically beaming, being one of few of the athletes to win gold. Ichigo had his silver on as did Rangiku and Gin had his bronze around his neck looking euphoric as the massive group made their way toward the arena for the closing ceremony.

Rukia couldn’t believe how fast the time had flown in and yet, how many memories she’d managed to make. This would be her most memorable of all her Olympics she was sure, even more memorable than the last where she’d won gold.

She squeezed Toshiro’s hand and he rubbed a thumb across her knuckles and gazed down at her with a beaming smile that stole her breath. They were led into the waiting area and told it would be an hour before the ceremony started, so there was plenty of time for them all to reminisce.

‘Feels like a lifetime ago,’ Rukia murmured to Toshiro and he nodded, understanding exactly what she meant without her needing to explain it. She was of course talking about that first time she’d laid eyes on him.

Stealing glances up at him now, almost shyly and watching his eyes sweep the hall in the direction of where she must have stood before, Rukia smiled. If she’d gone back in time and told herself that in 2 weeks’ time she’d be standing there, hand in hand with the attractive boy whose name she didn’t yet know, she’d have thought herself crazy.

Rukia tried to squash the feeling of their dwindling time down into the back of her mind. It became much easier when Rangiku and Toshiro both began to dance, the same elaborate and melodramatic moves they’d been doing when Rukia first looked over at them. Laughing heartily, Rukia joined in, having to work hard at making her moves look clunky and unimpressive rather than flowing into natural dance steps that came so easily to her.

Toshiro seemed keen to help her though, doing various moves for her to copy, one of which he dubbed the ‘titanic’ and involved plugging your nostrils and pretending to be sinking down into water. Rukia had seen the move before, knew it as another name but the whole IreAussie lot found themselves doing it while laughing regardless. They laughed even more when Ichigo pretended to be swimming away from a daddy shark Renji.

Having fun, they combined other insane dancing combinations including the floss and billy bounce which ended up in Gin falling and Rangiku landing on top of him when trying to help. Laughing hysterically the entire group then seemed to infect the surrounding nations who seemed to find their attempt at combining ridiculous dance moves hysterical.

Rukia was sure there’d be several videos already on Instagram as people filmed them attempting the various dances. Rukia decided to try and teach as many people as she could the steps for Gangnam style which, despite the incredulous look on his face, Toshiro seemed impressed by.

The closing ceremony was a lot more relaxed, and they were not told to stand in their own countries. Instead the athletes were going to walk out as if they were one giant nation with the flag bearers leading the way. Gin took the flag proudly for Ireland and Ichigo was given the Australian flag, they wandered off together after promising to see the group at the end of the march.

Australia and Ireland were so infused now, they just looked like the same country, and a few people from other countries came to march beside them. Rukia was ecstatic when Isane and her little sister bounded over to her wearing the white, red and black colours of Japan. 

‘What do you think the RukiShiro shippers will say?’ Rukia asked Toshiro playfully as they got ready to walk out into the arena.

‘I think they’re going to lose their collective shit,’ Rangiku laughed at them before Toshiro had a chance to respond. Laughing, they started walking toward the exit out into the arena and could hear the deafening sound of the crowd and music as they marched. The closing ceremony was much shorter and seemed to be much more of a concert than the country showing off what made them unique. This time it was much more about the athletes, Rukia noticed as she walked hand in hand with Toshiro and they were shepherded around the perimeter of the arena where they stood holding hands or standing side by side with the other athletes around them. It was meant to showcase unity as various famous Swiss artists performed.

Rukia sung along when she knew the words and just bobbed and danced with Toshiro when she didn’t. A laugh rose from the crowd at one point when her and Toshiro were caught facing each other attempting the fat Monica dance from Friends. Catching sight of them up on the screen she burst into laughter and Toshiro turned his head to see what she was laughing at before grinning and waving at the camera. It then cut away back to the concert and Rukia was left trying her best to compose herself while her annoying boyfriend now attempted to tickle her through her jacket.

They watched as the Olympic flag was removed from the flagpole and handed to China who was set to host the next winter Olympics in Beijing. Before Rukia knew what was happening she was being crushed into a giant hug that seemed to have started from either Renji or Ichigo. A large number of other athletes ran over to join in as the spell around the arena was broken and the final clips were broadcasted to the world.

Once Rukia could breathe again, making a very obvious point of animatedly gulping large volumes of air once she was allowed out of the cuddle pile, they were promptly told by Rangiku to meet her for the final party of the evening. Having been to one of these before, Rukia knew she would no longer require her large jacket and so the group made their way back to the hotels to leave their medals and change their outfits.

Toshiro left his things in Rukia’s room, clearly not wanting to spend a moment away from her but did politely step out the room while Soi Fon and Rukia changed into dresses for the final party. They made their way down only to find Rangiku and Gin already out on the dancefloor, where they seemed to be taking up an unprecedented amount of space. Rukia collected drinks at the bar and Soi Fon soon slipped out of sight, leaving Rukia and Toshiro with Yuzu, Karin, Jinta, Ichigo and Renji.

Ichigo seemed just as determined to get his boyfriend onto the dancefloor, he was tugging at his sleeve.

‘Come on, it’s our last night,’ Ichigo huffed.

‘As soon as this shot kicks in,’ Renji muttered back at him.

‘Care to dance?’ Toshiro asked, standing up, his white crinkled shirt clinging to him like a sin.

‘I thought you’d never ask,’ Rukia slipped her hand in his and they rose up from the table together. A few of the other people at their table moved too but Rukia had eyes only for Toshiro as they swayed their way out onto the dancefloor.

Wanting the entire place to know he was strictly off limits, Rukia moulded herself against him in a way that wasn’t very dignified in front of his family. Toshiro didn’t seem to care however, bringing his forehead to rest against hers, his eyes on hers.

They danced together for a number of songs and only broke apart to get a drink, neither of them looking at any of the clocks on the walls. She didn’t want to watch the time ticking down to when they’d have to part, the thought of it already made a lump rise in her throat.

‘Hey Jake,’ Rukia said noticing the security guard standing with his colleague. Jacob looked up at his name and caught sight of Toshiro behind her before flushing a delicate colour of red.

‘Oh, hi,’ he seemed to be acting like he was in trouble and when Rukia turned to look up at Toshiro his face was impassive. Deciding not to push her luck of Toshiro’s patience Rukia wished the two other guys a nice night as they scurried off with their drinks before ordering their own.

The alcohol ban was now well and truly lifted given that it was the official end of the Olympics. In response to Jakes appearance, Toshiro’s arm seemed to find itself around Rukia’s waist and she was sure he wasn’t going to be letting go of her for the rest of the night.

‘Surely you’re not jealous?’ Rukia asked him after this behaviour followed them back to their seats, where Soi Fon had entered into an arm wrestling match with a guy twice her size.

‘Not jealous no,’ Toshiro said, but there was an edge to his voice and Rukia pursed her lips in amusement. She liked the idea that he got jealous over her, she didn’t ever want to push these feelings in him because she knew that they could lead to destructive behaviours. She’d seen enough Rom Coms to know how that ended, but it still gave her some satisfaction to know that somewhere in his mind he cared enough about her to even be feeling those feelings in the first place.

A slam roused Rukia from this stupor as Soi Fon slammed the guys arm down on the table and Rukia wished she’d been paying attention enough to know how she’d done it. If Soi Fon could take down a guy twice her size then maybe there was hope for Rukia against Toshiro if he ever tried to wrestle that undignified horrific yellow monstrosity onto her head again.

Toshiro didn’t seem to be drinking much and Rangiku was far too busy with Gin to even bother trying to get him drunk.

‘Is it because of the crash?’ Rukia asked, putting her own drink down which was half finished.

‘No,’ Toshiro hesitated a little, his hand lying in her lap where she was playing idly with his fingers. ‘I’m just aware that we don’t have a lot of time left together and I don’t want to spend them drunk.’

His words hit her hard and Rukia found herself pushing her own drink away. With an understanding smile he entwined their fingers under the table and brought her hand up to his lips to kiss her knuckles. Rukia was frowning up at him, she wished he hadn’t mentioned how little time they had left together but she’d been the one to ask.

‘Come on, let’s go dance,’ Toshiro said, likely knowing this would distract her. They slipped out the booth and back onto the dancefloor.

They didn’t need alcohol to enjoy the rest of the evening though as Rangiku seemed to think that a limbo competition was exactly what the bar needed. The entire IreAussie lot joined in as well as a few of the other athletes mulling around.

The limbo stick stand had been pulled from the darkest corners of the bars cupboard where a large number of their other entertainment items were stored, including the stage, mics and speakers for the karaoke they’d enjoyed that second night together.

Somehow Rangiku had managed to charm her way into the cupboard to see what else the staff had and, bemused, they’d let her. The limbo stand was tattered and needed help from a chair to be propped enough not to fall over. Enthralled by her work, Rangiku had started the contest off and much to Rukia’s surprise actually done quite well regardless of her size.

Gin was the first to go out, which was unsurprising given he was the tallest competitor, but out of the men he hadn’t been the only one in that round. Two burly hockey players with as much flexibility as an iron basin went out on the same round immediately after Gin.

Rukia’s curiosity piqued though after the bar got lower and lower and Toshiro managed to keep going too. With Renji and Ichigo and even Jinta long out of the contest Rukia was incredibly impressed… not that she’d ever tell Toshiro that. The white haired snowboard was the shortest of the male competitors but lost to one of the male figure skaters from Japan who had both short height _and_ flexibility to his advantage.

Which was also exactly what Rukia had too, it came down to her, Yuzu and the same Japanese boy (called Yuichi) for the final three spots. Yuzu and Yuichi went out on the same level and then Rukia managed to clear it though not as easily as she’d have liked, given she was mostly showing off for Toshiro’s benefit who beamed at her and cheered from the watching crowd as she erected herself on the other side of the bar.

‘Silver on the ice,’ she laughed skipping over to him and jumping up into his arms. He caught her despite very little warning and grinned up at her, ‘but Gold under the limbo stick.’

‘Ahh but it was the opposite for me,’ he said as he dipped her down toward the ground, his hand supporting her back like she weighed of nothing at all and kissed her. ‘Gold in the pipe but silver under the stick.’

‘I guess we’ll have to work on your flexibility,’ she said demonstrating her own as he placed her back onto the ground. Toshiro laughed heartily and was kissing her again. The grin on his lips tasted exquisite, though it was probably just the juice he’d been drinking.

‘Aye, yeh’ve won at limbo,’ Gin called, Rukia and Toshiro both turned to look at him. He was sitting on one of the leather couches with Rangiku wrapped around him. ‘But can yeh beat meh an’ Ran in ah friendly match eh ping pong?’

The challenge was undeniable, Toshiro rolled his eyes but Rukia instantly narrowed hers. Challenge accepted.

‘Bring it on, Bitch,’ Rukia said, tugging Toshiro by the hand to ensure he couldn’t get away.

So filled with confidence from her win, she hadn’t realised just how much their gangly limbs would aid them in their destruction of Toshiro and Rukia. Hissing after she missed the ball again and Gin and Rangiku celebrated by rubbing their faces in it, Rukia shot a death glare at her boyfriend.

He should have been taller.

Toshiro looked sheepishly back at her, like he understood it to be his fault and accepted the blame fully which just made Rukia even more frustrated.

‘Short shits, short shits, short shits,’ Gin and Rangiku sang at them, dancing stupidly with their paddles as the celebrated their win.

Rukia picked a few of her favourite Irish swear words to hurdle at them, which only made Gin laugh harder and then she felt Toshiro’s arms pulling her away clearly sensing the danger. Rukia had been about to shove that ping pong ball somewhere highly inappropriate in her friends’ body.

With annoyance, Rukia saw that Toshiro too was laughing and grinning and Rukia scowled up at him.

‘It’s okay, Babe,’ he wrapped his arms more tightly around her as she struggled to get free, the tiny ball clutched tightly in her fist. ‘You won the limbo competition, remember?’

‘Loser, loser,’ Gin jeered at her in Gaelic while Rukia continued to swear back at him. She felt Toshiro’s strong arms tighten around her waist as he pulled her back toward the dancefloor. He knew there were only two ways to distract her from losing a competition… that would be sex or dancing. Since the former should be done in private, he pulled her body close to his and Rukia’s eyes finally slid off her asshole of a best friend and met Toshiro’s.

They danced together for a while, Rukia relaxing more and more into it and smiling stupidly at the way Toshiro sung along with the lyrics to the song. She wasn’t even sure if he was aware, he was doing it. Thankfully Gin and Rangiku didn’t pursue rubbing their face in the win, but rather left them to be wrapped up in each other.

‘Kuchiki,’ a familiar voice called over the music after the song came to an end. Rukia swung around and saw Hiyori striding across to her looking purposeful. ‘Care to settle things once and for all?’

Rukia scoffed.

‘You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Hiyori,’ she smirked.

Thus a dance battle ensued.

It was an even match, for Hiyori had been raised a dancer too though much more of a classical dancer. Where she came from in Russia, their dancing was strict, monitored, with stiff ballet teachers who drove you into the ground until your toes bled. Rukia remembered reading an article about it once, when Hiyori mentioned it.

But this was a club, and Rukia specialised in hip hop, the cheers from the crowd every single time Rukia stepped up to dance told them easily who was winning this battle. Unwilling to lose another competition that evening, Rukia gave it her all, her style able to change just as fluidly as the music.

Despite her changed attitude, Hiyori still stalked off in a huff after Rukia was deemed the winner and before Rukia could turn back to Toshiro and claim her prize, Yuzu had bounded into her line of vision blocking him from view.

‘Rukia, can we do a bathroom selfie together?’ she asked, her eyes so full of hope and admiration it was hard to refuse. Understanding that the quickest way to Toshiro’s heart was through his family, Rukia agreed, even though she really wanted to ravish the white haired snowboarder instead.

With a squeal of delight, Yuzu led Rukia off in the direction of the girl’s bathroom. Rukia winced at her own reflection. With all the dancing and the heat of the hot sweaty bodies pressed up against each other, her black hair was sticking to her face with sweat and before she agreed to take a picture, she and Yuzu decided to freshen up a bit.

‘I’m so excited that you and Toshiro worked things out,’ Yuzu bubbled happily as Rukia pushed her hair back out her face and touched up her eyeliner. ‘You two make such a cute couple!’

‘Thanks,’ Rukia chuckled.

‘And think how cute your kids will be, wait, will you let them snowboard or will you make them skate?’ she asked and Rukia almost inhaled her lip gloss.

Cheeks turning a very vivid red, Rukia spluttered.

‘I- don’t you think it’s a bit early to be talking about… that?’ she said flustered.

‘Toshiro wants a family, he loves that idea,’ Yuzu pointed out, ‘you must know that about him?’

‘Yes, well,’ Rukia swore in Gaelic as she dropped her powder and hastily stooped to pick it up.

‘Do you not want kids?’ Yuzu asked sounding disappointed.

‘I just, I just think this is something Toshiro and I should discuss later don’t you?’ Rukia asked, her cheeks still on fire as she glanced up into the determined face.

‘I’m just curious,’ Yuzu shrugged, her eyes twinkling and Rukia had to wonder if the girl had cornered her in the bathroom to find out just how compatible she and Toshiro really were. Rukia took a deep breath to steady herself as she rose from where she was crouched on the floor.

‘I’m not saying never,’ Rukia choose her words wisely, ‘I’m just saying not now.’

That seemed to be enough for Yuzu who beamed at her and Rukia relaxed as the chat turned instead toward their matching tattoos, which she also wanted pictures of.

Ten minutes and over a hundred photos later, Rukia and Yuzu emerged from the bathroom giggling. A man had just stumbled drunkenly into the door, demanding it must have been the men’s because the person on the front of the door was “wearing a kilt” which resulted in new fits of laughter.

Rukia made her way back to where Toshiro last was to find the snowboarder missing and her prowling eyes clawed their way around the room searching for his white hair. It didn’t take her long and soon she was sauntering over to his side where he seemed to be finishing up a rap battle with Ikkaku. Very sorry she’d missed him embarrassing himself, because of his sober state, Rukia hung back and observed his interaction with Yumichika.

Whatever the man was showing Toshiro on his phone had Toshiro blushing furiously and looking like he wanted to drown himself in alcohol rather than drink it. Deciding to save him, because it was her duty as his girlfriend Rukia threw snuck around his back and threw herself against him.

‘Did you miss me?’ she whispered into his ear, jumping up onto his back. Toshiro caught her legs like they did this all the time, only putting a leg out to steady himself and she could hear the relief in his voice.

‘Like you would not believe,’ he replied. Toshiro whirled them around away from where his friends seemed to be arguing about Rugby and Rukia slid back off his back. He turned to face her and was kissing her before she even had a chance to draw breath.

‘Stay up with me,’ he murmured when they broke apart. Her mind had been wiped clean by the cool touch of his lips and the heat of his tongue. She wanted to chase after the combination, but his words caught her attention. ‘Let’s watch the sunrise together.’

Without answering properly she pulled his head down for another kiss, chasing that feeling. His cool wet lips were silken against her own and she greedily inhaled his flavour into his mouth with her tongue. He didn’t seem to care, and kissed her back just as eagerly.

It wasn’t long after that, that they had to call Isshin to come and collect a very intoxicated Karin. Toshiro had been the one to make the call after trying to coax Karin up from the floor himself hadn’t worked. Knowing that Karin was in good, safe hands, Toshiro and Rukia stayed up in the club for as long as they could. Around them everyone seemed to be retiring for the night and several times Rukia almost fell asleep on Toshiro’s lap.

Exhaustion was washing over them in waves, but they fought it with every fibre of their being. When they got a little too sleepy, they asked the DJ to play Rewrite the Stars one last time for them and sung to each other, in a way that was very relatable to their current situation. The first time they’d sung the song, they’d been awkward, embarrassed, wanting something more but scared to push for it in front of the world. This time it was soft, intimate, a tribute to where their relationship now was and where it was going.

‘Sorry to say, but we’re closing, it’s nearly four in the morning,’ a surly looking manager advised, and Toshiro had to haul Rukia up from her comfortable spot on the seat. It took them a few moments to locate their jackets and then they were walking slowly, not heading anywhere in particular. At least Rukia hadn’t been walking anywhere in particular but Toshiro seemed to know where he wanted to go and soon they found themselves at the Olympic rings.

Toshiro had to help Rukia climb into the top middle ring because height and upper body strength were against her. Thankfully she was light and so Toshiro had no problem boosting her up into the first ring, then grabbing her up into the second once he’d managed to climb up into it himself.

The frigid morning air bit at their skin through their snow clothes. Without movement to help generate heat Rukia curled against him, straddling him in the ring and kissing him. Their make out session seemed to alternate between hot and heavy to soft and tender as they tried desperately to stay awake.

Rukia eventually gave a yelp as Toshiro’s fingers, free of his gloves, snaked their way through her jacket and against her bare skin.

‘Your fingers are so fucking cold,’ she hissed.

‘I know,’ he chuckled, ‘I’m trying to warm them up.’

‘Well I know where you can put them for that,’ her voice dropped, slow and seductive… or what she hoped was low and seductive and not just tired and barely awake. Giving a tiny little huff of a laugh Toshiro directed them so that Rukia was lying flat on her back on the ring and Toshiro half beside her, and half on top of her to stop himself from falling. They kissed hot and heavy now, and Rukia felt that familiar heat spreading through her body, the kind of heat that lit a fire inside her and made her want _more._

It was awkward with her clothing for Toshiro to get his hand where it needed to go, but after popping the buttons on the front of her trousers he slipped his hand down into her underwear and then his cold finger was sliding inside her.

She gasped into his mouth, the cold feeling oddly erotic but also how easily the finger slipped in… she’d been wanting this for the last few hours now. Toshiro pulled the finger back and slipped two in straight away and she gave another little gasp and shudder. Feeling those delicious digits of his pulling out and sliding back into her soon had her heating up. It was hard to spread her legs to give him more access and the confides to which they were working with meant he couldn’t get particularly deep, but it was still erotic.

When he slid the third finger in she moaned into his mouth, her back arching off the ring and Toshiro dipped down to kiss at her neck.

‘Feel good?’ he asked and she simply groaned in response.

His fingers felt amazing, but she wanted more, she wanted to feel him, one last time before they had to depart in a couple of hours. She was almost ready to ask him if he’d like to try and find a room but knew in the hazy part of her mind that all the rooms had been claimed by the other couples.

Toshiro shoved his hand a little further down into her underwear and Rukia felt the back of her trousers slide a little, exposing some of her back to the ring. Then his thumb found her clit and she found she didn’t care at all anymore. Rukia clutched at his jacket, keeping him close and stopping him from falling out of the ring as he continued to work her, his fingers curling just right and she could feel his eyes upon her face.

Rukia tried to keep her moans low but found it incredibly difficult and just let them flow, there was something erotic in knowing he was watching her, that other people might hear them and those thoughts sent her over the edge.

Toshiro helped her through her orgasm, then pulled his fingers back and hastily licked them clean before putting his glove back on, as Rukia readjusted her clothing. The wetness down in her underwear was not helping with the cold chill, even though it was several layers in.

Soon she was chittering so badly that Toshiro said it was time to go back inside. Rukia put up a bit of a fight but he assured her it was only to warm up, then they’d come back out to watch the sunrise. The promise of warmth was too much, and she soon found her frozen stiff limbs moving with the help of his encouragement and they climbed back down and made their way into the entrance of his hotel which was closer.

Rukia was fighting so hard to stay awake, Toshiro seemed to be finding it a little easier and kept asking her questions. The talking seemed to help then stay awake and though Rukia’s words were slurred with sleep she tried her best to keep the flow of conversation going.

‘What’s your favourite colour?’ he asked.

‘Teal,’ she answered without even thinking about it. This was something that had changed in her very recently, up until these Olympics her favourite colour had always been gold. The change was perhaps a testament to how much she’d changed on a personal level since being here.

‘Teal?’ Toshiro questioned.

‘Yeah,’ Rukia hummed, ‘it’s my new favourite.’

His smile was breath-taking. Even tired, exhausted and un-showered from their celebrations he was ridiculously handsome.

Toshiro kissed her forehead and Rukia closed her eyes against the contact, having to force them open again when he pulled back.

‘Mine is lime green,’ he poked her in the jacket, and she yelped, squirming away from him. ‘It’s also a new favourite.’

Rukia curled into him.

‘I don’t want to go,’ she sighed sadly, ‘I don’t want to go back to that empty apartment.’

The thought honestly cut through her like a knife. The apartment would be cold and miserable, even though her relationship with Byakuya had drastically improved and she knew she’d always have Gin… it wasn’t the same as being here at the Olympics. Toshiro and his massive family had shown her a life she wanted, a life that wasn’t out of reach for her.

These last two weeks felt like she’d stolen them directly from another persons’ life. Like they didn’t belong to her and she had no right to them, she wasn’t ready to give them up yet. Toshiro was everything she never knew she needed.

‘It won’t be for long,’ he said softly, trying his best to comfort her, ‘you’ll miss your privacy after two weeks in Australia with my family.’

‘No I won’t,’ Rukia sighed and he responded by hugging her closer.

‘What was Highschool like for you?’ Toshiro asked suddenly, and she blinked up at him in surprise. The distraction worked though and they dwindled the remaining hours away talking about school, commenting on the differences between education in Oz verses the education in Ireland. When the conversation dried up, Toshiro found them some pens and bits of paper and they played noughts and crosses and Olympic-themed hangman which Toshiro was scarily good at.

‘You’re meant to guess vowels first,’ he reminded her, his mouth tugging in an attractive amused smile. Rukia choose to just stare up at him, the way his jaw moved when he spoke and swallowed. The way his eyes twinkled beautifully with the light from the low ceiling chandelier above them, everything about him was perfect. She wanted to commit everything about him to memory.

‘Why don’t you try “I”?’ Toshiro prompted and Rukia nodded her head with a sigh.

‘Okay,’ she said and he filled in a couple of the little blank dashes. Rukia watched, marvelling at his writing, trying to memorise that too. The way he held the pen using the fingers that had just been inside her a couple of hours before. That thought brought a cheeky laugh bubbling in her throat and he looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

‘What’s so funny?’ he asked and Rukia just pursed her lips and shook her head.

‘Nothing,’ Rukia replied and he blinked questioningly at her but she just continued to shake her head.

‘Come on, I’ve made this one really easy, you should get it.’ He prompted her and she glanced back down at the tiny bit of paper. His attempt at a hangmans noose was pretty pathetic but she appreciated the effort, her eyes sliding along to the letters and she tried to force her brain to work.

‘Ice dancing?’ she asked and he beamed at her.

‘Well done,’ he chuckled and pushed the bit of paper back at her. Rukia tried her best to come up with a challenging one.

A few minutes later, Toshiro was huffing in indignation.

‘That’s cheating,’ he said with a frown as she finished writing the letters of ‘fencing’ into the blank dots after completing the hanging of his stickman.

‘You didn’t specifically say it had to be _winter_ sports,’ Rukia reminded him and he pouted playfully at her.

‘That’s still not fair.’

‘I have to play dirty, you’re unnaturally good at everything,’ she rolled her eyes at him but he grinned anyway, accepting the compliment.

Giggling at how cute he looked, they snapped a final picture together, before going back outside where the light in the distance indicated that the sun was just about to begin rising up over the horizon.

They made their way up into the same ring as before and as Rukia glanced around she saw a few athletes with their balcony doors open in the hotel behind them. It seemed that she and Toshiro were not alone in their plan to watch the sunrise.

The rings had been even more difficult to climb as this time they’d insisted on doing it with coffee, most of Rukia’s had spilled while trying to climb up. She hadn’t gotten it for the caffeine so much as for the heat in her gloved hands. Rukia sat in between Toshiro’s legs, her back pressed against his chest as they watched the beautiful light spilling over the frosted frozen village just down from the mountain.

‘Oh it’s so beautiful,’ Rukia gasped softly.

The dazzling light glinted off the frosted roofs, somewhere in the distance a dog was barking and it seemed the entire village was beginning to stir around them. Sensing the approaching calls, Toshiro’s arm tightened around her. He snapped a final photo of the sunrise and another selfie of the two of them in the ring, Rukia holding her coffee cup and beaming up at the camera.

Then his phone died and Rukia felt her heart tighten in her chest.

It was coming to an end and she was struggling to keep her cool.

Another fifteen minutes or so passed before Rukia felt her phone in her pocket, Byakuya was calling and she knew that was her warning to go and pack. The only thing that made the experience better was the way her brother’s voice spoke softly down the phone at her, like he understood exactly where she was and how she was feeling.

‘I’ll see you soon,’ Rukia said sleepily into the tiny device. Her eyes met Toshiro’s and he smiled at her. She knew he was trying to be strong for her, but underneath all that bravado he was hurting just as much as she was at their approaching departure.

‘We better go back,’ Toshiro shuffled around, preparing to help Rukia back down to the ring below them, ‘my dad will be after me soon too, if he hasn’t tried to call already.’

The temptation to spend more time together had Rukia almost suggesting that they go to his first and pack his things, then go to hers and pack hers so they didn’t have to separate. But other than this being impractical it was also a little pathetic so she decided against asking.

‘I’ll meet you there?’ Rukia asked, swallowing at the thought.

‘I’ll text you what gate we’re at,’ Toshiro said and kissed her outside her hotel.

Rukia rushed to her room and packed as quickly as she could. She stopped for a quick shower and wished once again that Toshiro had been with her.

‘Are you ready?’ Byakuya asked as she knocked on his door thirty minutes later.

‘Yes can we go right now?’ she asked, feeling like his eyes were x-raying her.

‘Of course,’ Byakuya nodded and stepped out into the hall, bustling around to ensure everyone else was ready to go. Gin came out his room looking just as miserable and forlorn as she felt.

‘Ah hate this,’ he sighed and Rukia nodded to him and Renji.

‘At least you two will see Ichigo and Rangiku at the world championships,’ she sighed and they both threw her empathetic glances. The wait for her to see Toshiro was going to be even longer… was it too late to swap sports? Trade figure skating for snowboarding or skiing?

‘Let’s go,’ Byakuya said once everyone was assembled and they made their way down to the bus that sat waiting in the snow. They were going to arrive at the airport far earlier than really necessary, but given that more than half the Irish team were dating the Australian team and that their flights were an hour before the flight to Ireland, it made sense to go early and see them off.

Rukia glared at every security guard in the airport until they were through, she was sure they were going slow on purpose. As soon as her phone had been scanned and was back in her hands she fired a text to Toshiro before she even put her shoes back on.

**Rukia, 9:33am:** _We just got through security, where are you? Xx_

 **Toshiro, 9:34am** : _Gate 20, Beautiful (red heart)_

His reply was instant and together with the tiny Irish team they made their way in the direction of the gate, making only a quick stop so Rukia could buy a Keep Cup.

Spotting him she ran into his arms and he embraced her tightly, his arms wrapping around her in a way that she now associated with home.

Around them the other couples were embracing and they decided to slip away for some privacy under the pretence of getting coffee.

Though the moment they were out of their families eyesight, Rukia pulled Toshiro into an unused disabled bathroom and locked the door behind him. Even though he’d made it clear she didn’t need to get him back, she wanted too.

Toshiro took very little persuading and soon the two of them were saying a proper farewell.

As they left the bathroom Rukia couldn’t help but giggle.

They’d just fucked in a bathroom and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

‘Do you think anyone noticed?’ Toshiro asked, but Rukia shook her head. She was sure no one was paying them any real attention and she knew that the other couples would be too preoccupied to wonder where they’d gone.

‘Who cares anyway?’ she shrugged, ‘it’s our last hour together.’

The words went through her like a knife and looking at Toshiro’s face she knew he felt the same way.

They finally made their way to a Starbucks and Toshiro’s face changed the moment she pulled her Keep Cup from her bag.

‘Yeah I got one on the way here,’ she smiled at him when he asked her about it, ‘I got it because of you.’

‘You’re my dream girl,’ he muttered and they both laughed. It was dorky and adorable but it made Rukia’s heart soar to hear him speaking like that.

They got everyone else’s orders sent to Toshiro through text and made their way back to where the IreAussie crew were waiting. Toshiro handed the coffees off as Rukia secured them a seat together. He sat down, and she perched on his lap, both of them drinking the warm liquid as they spoke about their World Championships.

Toshiro was to be in Sierra Nevada and Rukia was going to be in Japan for hers. Toshiro’s phone was plugged into an airport charging port and he was pulling up the dates and times on his while Rukia gathered hers. Together they put in times for calls and chats into their calendars.

Toshiro seemed just as keen on Japan as she was when she voiced it as a potential holiday destination for them. Rukia tried her best to keep the images of them in a tiny little teahouse together, walking down Japans beautiful busy streets and eating ramen together.

‘Alright, we have to go,’ Isshin stood when the queue for their gate got down to the last few people. His words struck a blow in Rukia and she tightened her hold on Toshiro, doing her best to fight back the emotion that was threatening to spill over.

Toshiro stood, but pulled Rukia with him, kissing her with everything he had left. Rukia clung onto his jacket, her hands making fists of the material. If she refused to let him go, then he couldn’t get on the plane and he’d just have to stay in Switzerland with her.

Isshin called to him but he seemed to be ignoring his father in favour of kissing Rukia.

She pulled back to breathe and buried her face into his chest. Her tired and exhausted brain was struggling to hold back the dam of emotions that were bubbling just below the surface.

‘I’ll video call you when I get home,’ Toshiro said, his voice sounding thick and heavy, ‘it won’t be for another thirty hours or so, but I promise as soon as I can call, I will.’

‘I know,’ Rukia mumbled into him, but her hands didn’t slacken their hold on him.

‘Toshiro, now!’ Isshin called but Rukia didn’t let him go.

‘Rukia, let him go,’ Byakuya’s voice was calm, gentle, like he understood just how difficult this was for her and didn’t want to prise her away any more than she wanted him to.

Then they were being pulled apart. Rukia felt her brothers hold on her, but he wasn’t pulling her back, just stopping her from following Toshiro. Isshin had a firm arm around Toshiro and the tiny snowboarder didn’t stand a chance against him. Their hands let go of each other after trying to cling on and Rukia couldn’t stop the tears that now spilled over the edges of her eyes.

‘One month,’ Toshiro called.

‘Call me,’ she replied.

‘Okay that’s one,’ Isshin said, keeping a firm grip on Toshiro to stop him running back to Rukia. Isshin’s other arm wrapped around Ichigo next. ‘That’s two. Rangiku, don’t make me handle you too.’

Rangiku didn’t seem to want to let go of Gin but the taller male obviously didn’t want another man handling her so he kissed her cheek and took a step back.

‘Perfect,’ Isshin sighed, ‘that’s all the kids.’

Toshiro and Rukia’s eyes were still on each other. She felt pathetic crying silently in front of him, but he didn’t seem to care, his eyes were drinking in as much of her face as he could, like he was trying to commit it to his memory.

‘Oh yeah?’ Ichigo snorted, ‘what about her?’

Toshiro and Rukia turned at the same time to see Yoruichi making out with Soi Fon.

Shock washed over Rukia, and then, without warning, she was giggling.

Giggling at the look on Toshiro’s face, giggling at the whole ordeal, and beside her she could feel her brother’s body moving with hers. He seemed to find it just as amusing as she did.

‘Yoruichi!’ Isshin snapped, ‘here I am rounding up all the kids and you’re over here doing this. You’re supposed to be a role model.’

Oh she was a role model already. The way she was wrapped around Soi Fon, Rukia could pick up some tips.

‘Ah you know me, Isshin,’ Yoruichi pulled away from Soi Fon for a second, ‘I can’t resist an Irish accent.’

Rukia giggled harder, watching as Isshin rounded her up with the rest of his family and sent them onto the plane.

‘Say goodbye,’ Isshin told them as he carried Toshiro to the gate with Rukia still laughing and crying from her spot in Byakuya’s arms.

‘I’ll miss you,’ Toshiro called out.

‘I’ll miss you too,’ Rukia called back, Byakuya’s hold slipping as she reached out for him.

‘See you in Oz, Beautiful,’ and with a final cheeky wink he was gone.

Rukia stood watching the door to gate being closed after him. Byakuya’s hand tightening on her shoulder. She raised her own and squeezed his cold fingers before walking over to the window with the others where they watched the plane depart.

Just one month… just one month and they’d reunite.

How bad could it be?

\---

**@ IrishLass101**   
_I can’t get over how cute they all are together #IreAussie #GinRan #RukiShiro  
Retweeted from **@RukiaFansOfficial**  
[Video Attached] [Video Attached] [Image Attached][Image Attached]_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
@IrishLass101** _I am LIVING for these videos! Every time me and my family saw the #IreAussie lot on TV during the ceremony we SQUEALED!_

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
 _@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice_** _Have to give props to them for those dance moves too! Combing the floss and Gangnam Style is quite an accomplishment! LOLLLL_

**@Christophe-gc  
** _Bringing you all one final behind the scenes moment, these two I just can’t get enough of them (heart eyes) (heart eyes) [Video Attached]  
Liked by **RukiaFansOfficial, YuriKatsudon** and 11,345 others_

****

**@NewSHIROFamFan  
 _@_** **_Christophe-gc_ ** _OMFGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!! THAT KISS!!!! THEY JUST DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT BEING CAUGHT NOW!!! THANK YOU CHRIS!!!_

**@VictorNikiforov** _  
**@Christophe-gc** That’s quite the steamy kiss, was this before or after the limbo competition?  
liked by **@Christophe-gc** and 10,622 others_

**@Christophe-gc**  
 _@VictorNikiforov_ _LOL! After!!! Rukia and Toshiro DOMINATED that, then she tore up the dance floor.  
liked by **VictorNikiforov,**_ **_Toshiupdates,_ ** _IrishLass101_ _and 9,454 others_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I have a lot of phantom readers, since we've given you over 200,000 words... it would be really nice to hear from you. Getting comments and reviews inspires writers, when a fic flops and doesn't get as much attention then it just puts the writers off ever wanting to do something like it again.
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord then you can do so here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)
> 
> My trello can be found here: https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions  
> Where you can be kept up to date on my writing projects and when the next chapter is due up!


	13. Epilogue Part 1: Oz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘You look beautiful,’ Toshiro whispered to her under his breath when none of their friends were paying them any attention. Rukia’s lips tugged up at the corners, she recognised that compliment for what it was. A combination of how good it was to see her again but also that he’d spotted the burlesque underwear.   
> ‘Thank you, so do you,’ she replied back to him, touching his arm as he slipped the suitcase into the boot of his car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last chapter after this... are you emotionally ready? Because I'm not...

Art by: Ammsterdamn

* * *

One month was fucking hard.

It was made even harder by the fact that Rukia had a competition and no Toshiro to distract her.

Rukia paced the room of the posh Japanese hotel. She hadn’t gone as lavish as she normally would have. Her boyfriend came with weird side effects for her spending habits, instead Rukia had downsized her room and donated the rest of the money she’d have used on a suit to a local Ocean clean up charity near Tokyo. Rukia threw a filthy look at her phone, like it was the devices fault that Toshiro hadn’t called her yet and checked the clock on the wall.

He wasn’t due to call her for another ten minutes, but Rukia was impatient.

It had been three weeks (give or take) since she’d parted from him in the airport. They hadn’t managed to call each other every single day but they did do audio-clips over Whatsapp which was more or less the same. If they weren’t doing calls or audio, then they’d simply text each other the smallest detail from their days spent apart. Toshiro was having a much harder time of it than she was, given that Rangiku and Gin had been reunited and Ichigo and Renji too. He had to sit and endure all the couples around him while Rukia could escape that feeling. Most of the other figure skaters seemed to be single and unwilling to let a relationship take from their work.

The clock read 19:52pm, and her eyes darted back to her laptop screen, then onto a box in the corner of the room.

He’d told her not to open it until their call, judging by how pleased he’d been before he went for lunch Rukia knew it was going to be a good gift. It came with flowers which she’d managed to put in a hotel vase beside the window, but her eyes were on the gift box. She was burning with curiosity and she desperately wanted to open it.

Rukia had spent the evening before, after her training, watching Rangiku and Toshiro’s slopestyle events. Unfortunately she’d missed Renji and Ichigo’s because her own training time clashed with their event. Toshiro took bronze and Rangiku took the silver. They’d both been buzzing about it and Toshiro had called her in a fifteen minute window he had before the award ceremony, by the time that had finished Rukia was out cold for the night.

The time zones were messing her up, if she didn’t have her own training and her own competitions to be focusing on, she’d have happily stayed up until 2am to speak to Toshiro.

A bubbly tune filled the room, snapping Rukia from her stupor as she launched herself across her bed and hit the green camera icon on her skype. At once a beaming Toshiro filled her entire screen as he adjusted his camera. His white hair pushed back away from his face and pale blue t-shirt clinging to his chest. Behind him, the hotel room looked just as clean as it always did, but this time there only seemed to be one bed as no doubt Ichigo would have opted to room with Renji instead for this trip.

‘Hey beautiful,’ he beamed into the camera and Rukia breathed a sigh of relief.

‘I’ve been waiting ages,’ she scolded him causing him to laugh.

‘I said I’d call you at 12pm!’

‘Yes and that was far too long to have to wait for,’ she frowned deeper, not fully understanding why he wasn’t taking this seriously.

‘You had practice and dinner beforehand!’ Toshiro accused.

‘Don’t go blaming me,’ Rukia glared into the camera and watched him purse his lips in amusement.

‘Frustrated?’ he asked calmly.

‘And horny, but you already know that,’ she groaned and her head fall into the pillow of her bed. Peering across the fabric of the pillow to the laptop she watched as Toshiro casually stood up from his chair and drew the curtains of his hotel room, then crawled across his bed to check the door was bolted shut before coming back.

The entire thing would have been annoyingly slow to watch if she hadn’t been presented with a rather lovely view of his rear as he made his way across the bed.

‘Sorry,’ Toshiro said, finally looking apologetic for how long he’d taken.

‘It’s okay,’ Rukia huffed into the pillow.

‘You didn’t open your present yet did you?’ he asked and Rukia shook her head. ‘Okay then, go get it.’

Rukia didn’t need telling twice, she scrambled off the bed, almost getting caught in the covers and seized the box from the desk before bringing it back to the bed with her. Toshiro’s large teal eyes were full of amusement and something else… something Rukia’s brain didn’t have the right processing power to pin point at the moment.

Without waiting for him to give her the word, Rukia started ripping the brown packaging open and from the box she pulled out…

‘A vibrator?’ she asked, blinking dumbstruck at it. She hadn’t been expecting that… but it would beat having to use her own fingers.

‘Not just any vibrator,’ Toshiro said with a smirk, and Rukia raised an eyebrow as she picked it up out of the box. Toshiro was holding his phone in his hand and looking incredibly smug about something.

Rukia opened the instructions and realised with a gasp… he’d gotten her a wireless one, one that he could control with an app from his phone.

‘It was Yukio who gave me the idea,’ Toshiro chuckled.

‘Remind me to thank him,’ Rukia smirked as she pulled the small bottle of lube from inside the box too. ‘It isn’t nearly as thick as you are.’

Toshiro flushed at the comment, he cleared his throat. Rukia didn’t miss the way his eyes swept over his screen as he looked at her.

‘Tonight I’m in charge,’ he said, his voice was a few octaves lower and it made Rukia shudder, ‘take your clothes off, Beautiful.’

Rukia had never been one for being submissive, but with Toshiro she didn’t mind stepping out of her comfort zone and so she kneeled before him on the bed, pushing the laptop back to maximise the view he’d have and began to strip. He told her when to slow down, what to remove next and soon she was kneeling in nothing but her bra and pants. Toshiro adjusted himself in his trousers, but otherwise paid himself no mind, his eyes intent on her. Rukia removed her bra at his requested and turned around to give him a view of her ass on the camera as he ordered.

‘Fuck,’ he groaned, and Rukia looked back at him over her shoulder. His hand was in his hair, he’d moved to his own bed to get more comfortable and was staring intently at the screen. ‘I wish I was there.’

‘Me too,’ she whined and felt her heart clench in her chest. Though she loved this sexual roleplay experience they were embarking on, where she was basically being a cam girl for him. It didn’t beat having his hands on her body, his moans in her ear, his dick in her hand.

Toshiro sat, enjoying the view for a few moments, before giving her the next set of instructions.

‘I want you to remove them, slowly,’ he said, his voice low and seductive and seemed to wash over her. Rukia shuddered but reached back and slowly slipped her fingers under the elastic of the sexy red and black lacy pair she’d bought for the occasion.

‘You know,’ she chuckled, glancing back at the screen again and flashing him a cheeky smirk, ‘if this were a real cam show I’d be asking you for a lot of money just now.’

‘How about a bet?’ he offered, a smug smile lighting up his own face. Rukia laughed, she laughed like she’d not laughed in the weeks since she’d last been with him. His view became a lot less pleasant as she had to flop onto her side, foregoing her slow removal of her underwear while he blundered on about betting gold in his halfpipe. She’d not expected him to bring back a fond memory of their time together at the Olympics, it had been so out of place, caught her so off guard, and mixed with her elation at seeing him, caused her to giggle harder than was necessary.

Rukia had never had an experience with a partner, where she could laugh comfortably during sex. With Toshiro, she could have it all, including rough needy sex and slow loving sex. It just reminded her so much why she’d fallen so hard for him.

‘Rukia,’ Toshiro groaned after a while, ‘come on, man dying here.’

‘Right, right I’m sorry,’ she chuckled, her stomach unfurling enough to allow her body to get back into the position she’d been in moments before. This time they managed to get through the removal of her pants without any other interruptions. Normally in this position most women would be incredibly self-conscious, but Rukia was a pretty confident person by nature. Couple it with the fact that she trusted Toshiro implicitly, and there was very little for her to feel self-conscious about.

‘You’re so beautiful,’ he murmured across the crappy connection. Rukia heard the sound of a zipper and glanced back to see him sliding his own trousers off and tossing them somewhere in the background.

‘Were you getting uncomfortable?’ she asked playfully, a seductive edge to her voice. He smirked at the camera, his eyes flashing mischievously.

‘Just a little, hard to have a boner in jeans,’ Toshiro replied.

‘Especially with a cock as big as yours,’ Rukia threw him the dirty compliment and he just flushed an even brighter shade of red.

‘Start with one finger, slowly but trace it over your skin first, I want to watch.’

Rukia did as she was told. It felt odd to be touching herself quite this way, but she kept reminding herself it was a show and she was used to doing movements similar during her burlesque dance routines… just this time it was intended for sexual pleasure rather than just teasing about it.

She dragged her fingers across her ass, using her nails to dig into her flesh, and doing her best to angle herself in a way he could properly see as she inserted the first finger. Rukia let out a low breath, closing her eyes and trying to get into it. She’d masturbated before but always preferred toys over touching herself.

If Toshiro was still watching he wasn’t making any vocal noises to remind her, she allowed the one finger to slide in and out for a few moments before pushing up to two.

‘That’s it,’ he encouraged softly, his voice reminding her she had an audience. A shudder raked her body and she felt herself clench around her fingers before she moved up to three. With how turned on she was and how much her body was begging for it, she didn’t think she’d even need the lube he supplied for her.

‘Are you touching yourself?’ she panted the question out after the silence stretched on, nothing but the salacious sound of her fingers filling the room.

‘No,’ Toshiro replied and unbelievingly Rukia turned to glance back at the camera. It was true, he wasn’t touching himself at all, both hands were where she could see them. He was lying on his side, one hand propping his head up and the other lay out toward the keyboard.

She gulped, unsure if that made her feel slightly more self-conscious or not.

‘You have my full attention,’ Toshiro stated simply, clearly sensing her uncertainty and trying to put her mind at ease. Swallowing thickly, Rukia continued to stretch herself with her fingers, remembering she didn’t need to do it quite so vigorously for the vibrator was much smaller than Toshiro would have been.

‘Don’t forget your nipples and clit,’ he chided, his voice sounding almost _amused._ Rukia huffed at that.

‘If you were here I wouldn’t have to remember any of that,’ she sighed.

‘Babe if I was there you wouldn’t even remember your name,’ Toshiro’s smug reply came quickly and she grinned down into the bedcovers.

‘That was smooth,’ she replied.

‘I’m pretty proud of it actually,’ he chuckled, ‘lie on your back I want a better view of you.’

Rukia did as she was told. She lay on her back, her legs spread open and cupped one of her own breasts. Toshiro heaved a deep sigh which she heard through the app, he was clearly struggling with himself.

‘Time for the toy I think,’ he muttered and Rukia agreed, rolling over and grabbing it. With the teal coloured vibrator in her hand she smiled down at it and flicked it to the appropriate settings. For safe measure she put a tiny bit of lube on it and settled back down into the same position she’d been in before. Normally when she used vibrating toys it was on her clit not inside her… but this one came with a two part system that would take care of both; a proper vibrator for inside her and a small bullet for clit stimulation.

Barely able to contain her excitement, she lowered the vibrator and was ready to push it in when he stopped her.

‘Not that one,’ he said, ‘the smaller one first.’

Pouting and almost ready to do the opposite of what he said, Rukia picked up the smaller bullet vibrator and held it against her clit. Toshiro tapped on his phone and a moment later the vibrations came to life. The pleasure shot up through her and she let her head fall back against the pillows with a soft groan. It felt odd not to be in control and strangely exhilarating at the same time.

Rukia had no idea when he was going to turn the speed setting up or down, and each time he did he was met with a gasp of longing or a groan of pleasure. Toshiro was clearly having a lot of fun with this, he refused to let her insert the other toy and for a while Rukia wondered if he wanted to make her come without anything inside her.

With that thought in mind she spent less time focusing on the lack of a dick and focused instead on the feeling of her clit being stimulated. Rolling her hips to meet imaginary thrusts she could feel her entire body shuddering with pleasure. Waves crashing up and down and the peak drawing ever closer…

Moments before she tumbled over the peak the vibrations died away and with it followed an array of ugly swear words, though she wasn’t sure what language.

‘Why’d you stop?’ she huffed.

‘English, Babe,’ he replied amused.

‘Why did you stop?’ she repeated, bringing her head up and glaring at the screen, disappointment ringing in her voice.

‘Because you were going to orgasm,’ the smirk was evident in his voice without her having to see his expression. With a huff she let her head fall back against the pillows. Rukia didn’t beg, she’d never begged anyone for sex in her life… but this was the closest she’d ever come to it.

Perhaps that’s what he was trying to do. Maybe he wanted to hear her beg for him. She glared at the camera and set her jaw.

Mischief twinkled in his beautiful eyes before she felt the vibrator come to life in her hand again.

Resuming the same spot it was on before he gave her a further instruction.

‘Now you can use the other toy,’ he said and Rukia grabbed it swiftly, not needing to be told twice. It was soon buried to the hilt inside and she let out a long low groan of longing… it didn’t feel nearly as good as it would if it were actually Toshiro, but she’d take what she could get.

Apparently he wasn’t having any of it. All vibrations from the smaller bullet ceased and neither of them buzzed to life in her hands. Rukia let out another groan of frustration.

‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ Rukia fired at him.

‘Sorry,’ Toshiro barked a laugh at her misery but still didn’t press the button on his phone to spur them back to life.

‘No you’re not,’ she groaned, ‘Toshiro!’

‘Toshiro what?’ he asked, his voice flirty and playful. It was a tone she wasn’t in the mood to deal with right now.

‘Turn it back on,’ Rukia groaned.

‘Please?’ he offered and she shot him a glare across their internet connection.

‘Turn it back on,’ she growled.

‘Not until you say please,’ Toshiro feigned looking at his nails and Rukia wished he were in the room so she could strangle him.

‘I will hang up this call,’ she growled.

‘You can’t do that,’ he smirked, ‘your hands are busy.’

It was true, one hand was clutching the bullet to the right point of her clit and the other was still holding onto the vibrator inside her. She’d been giving it long lazy strokes in and out of herself just to keep the mood present but she was two seconds away from dropping them to close the laptop over. As if sensing this he tapped the button on his phone to buzz them to life on the lowest possible setting.

Thankful she was getting some kind of friction she tried to focus on that instead of her obvious annoyance at her boyfriend. It was difficult, because he’d been using the higher settings prior, Rukia found it impossible to get anywhere near to the orgasm high she’d been riding on before he’d stopped. Toshiro knew exactly what he was doing. He was too intelligent, too good a player at this game. Even with the lowest setting on the vibrator she wouldn’t remove it from either area in case she missed him increasing it and that meant she couldn’t angrily hang up on him.

But he also knew that the setting was too low for her to really get off. It was like slow mild torture and Rukia was completely at his mercy, her brain too horny and muddled to think of a plan. When she did spare the camera another glare, it was only to find her boyfriend’s smug face grinning back at her.

His eyes were dark with lust, but his hands were still where Rukia could see them. She couldn’t comprehend how he could stand it… perhaps she’d always been at the mercy of her hormones more than he had. Maybe it had something to do with growing up in a house with two sisters and sharing a room with a brother? He was much better at self-control than Rukia, who would get her fill whenever she wanted.

Realising this, Rukia knew she was fighting a losing battle. It would have been different if she’d been there in person, in person she’d have stood more of a chance, just like when they’d been in the gym together.

‘Toshiro,’ she groaned, finally giving in, ‘please…’

His eyes sparkled with mischief for a moment, but he didn’t move his hand to his phone.

‘Please,’ she begged, her voice breaking at the same time her pride did.

With a tap on his phone the two vibrators roared into a higher setting. Rukia gasped and closed her eyes, almost missing him as he reached down out of camera. It was clear now that she’d begged for him, Toshiro was giving into himself too.

When Rukia next looked back at the camera, Toshiro had repositioned it, tilting the camera up to show him sitting on the bed. His dick was out of his boxers and he was warming lube between his fingers. Rukia couldn’t help the shudder of longing that pulsed through her as she watched him begin to stroke himself.

It was all she could do to hold on. With shaking hands she tried to mimic the movements of his hands on his erection with her thrusts of the vibrator but it was very clear who was going to come first. Rukia could feel the previous built orgasm returning at the sight of her boyfriend’s cock and the renewed speed of the vibrator. She could remove it from her clit, allow herself a chance to come at the same time as Toshiro, but she was too far gone to care about coming first now. Rukia could feel the build happening too quickly and before she could even muster the will to try and stop it, she was already coming.

 _‘To-Toshiro,’_ she gasped, her back arching off the bed and her walls clamping around the toy inside her. When Rukia next glanced at the screen, it was to see Toshiro’s eyes trained in on his. His hands moving furiously, and as Rukia came down from the high, he gasped and came up his bare chest. If Rukia had been more coherent she’d have recorded the screen for that exact moment, because the way all his muscles contracted under his skin was incredibly arousing. His head was thrown back, his mouth open slightly and his breathing harsh and deep.

‘F-fuck,’ Toshiro gasped and Rukia chuckled in agreement. Having cast the toys to the side, because Toshiro still hadn’t turned them off, she rolled over and got into a slightly more dignified pose in front of the camera, watching as he began to come down from his high.

‘That was a great gift,’ she murmured into the camera, watching him chuckle in amusement and agreement.

‘Yeah, it was,’ he sighed, pushing his sweaty hair from his sexy forehead. He pulled a towel from off screen and began to clean up the mess, as the chat turned more conversational. They spoke about the competition and their training, catching up on every single little insignificant thing from what they ate to how they slept.

Rukia loved it. She enjoyed hearing every moment from him.

The way he acted on camera, the way his accent resonated through her bones, the way he’d casually throw out a bit of Aussie slang without stopping to explain it because he just assumed she’d understand. Rukia found her finger tracing her screen at one point as he carried the camera through to the bathroom so he could continue to talk to her while he properly cleaned up.

Toshiro wasn’t one for rubbing it in that he’d gotten her to beg, but Rukia knew better than that. She’d have to get him back so she decided to set him a challenge.

And if it was one thing athletes hated doing… it was losing. Even to a silly challenge set by a friend or significant other.

‘You…’ Toshiro stared rather dumbstruck at the camera, ‘don’t want me to masturbate until you’re here?’

‘It’s just under a week,’ Rukia rolled her eyes with an affectionate smile. ‘I am sure you can cope.’

He made a face but sighed and finally agreed to the challenge. Rukia grinned evilly into her covers as she settled down for an early night.

Toshiro must have stayed online with her until she fell asleep because when she woke next morning for her competition, the laptops power had died and she knew she hadn’t shut it down. Rukia groaned and stretched, checking the time on her phone and realising that she still had ten minutes to go before her alarm would sound.

Toshiro would be in bed asleep while she was doing her competition, but as they’d compromised, he was to call her the moment he woke up. Originally he’d wanted to stay up and watch her competition but they didn’t know what time she’d be on the ice and the Free Skate could last for around two hours. He needed a good sleep for his own Half Pipe contest and Rukia didn’t want to do anything that could take a win away from him, or worse, cause him an injury.

Toshiro had argued, of course he had. He wanted to support Rukia as much as he could and while she respected that she’d reminded him that there were likely competitions of his she’d have to miss to sleep for her own. That seemed to have settled the debate for the time being.

Rukia fired off a text wishing him good morning and then slipped out and in for an early shower, cleaning and tidying the evidence from their endeavours of the night before.

Rukia made her way to the rink in preparation for her competition. The contests didn’t feel as lonely as they did before, now that Byakuya was back on her side. He seemed just as keen as she was to make up lost time and Rukia would often try and manipulate him into flirting with someone. She’d come to the realisation that if Byakuya ever fell in love again, she’d support him as fully as he now supported her and Toshiro.

The contest picked back up from the short programmes and Rukia had decided to stick to her “Not Today” routine. This time her quad lutz was clean, just like the rest of her performance and she came out ahead of the competition, beating the Russians with a margin of over 14 points. Despite Ireland’s disappointment at the lack of a gold medal, they seemed to rally behind her relationship. She’d seen a rise in the number of comments and stories coming out about Irish people getting Australian pen pals, lovers and the number of Australians who had taken up learning Irish seemed to have quadrupled.

It was a nice feeling to know more of her legacy lay in the people and the love for friendships oceans apart than in a bit of metal. When Byakuya realised this too, he’d hugged her close and told her he was proud of the fact she had gotten silver.

This silver seemed to mean more to their tiny family than a gold medal ever would have.

By the time Rukia and Byakuya had gone for a late lunch, it was waking time for Toshiro and he called the moment he was conscious.

‘How did it go?’ his groggy voice asked as she picked up on the second ring.

‘Got the gold,’ she smirked into the phone hearing his joyous cheering on the other end of the line, then proceeded to give him a detail by detail breakdown until he had to leave and get ready for his own contest.

Rukia watched his contest that night in Byakuya’s hotel room. The two of them had a pajama day with Rukia’s gold medal sitting on top of the table.

Toshiro’s halfpipe final was taxing to watch… with this contest the women and men went together unlike the Olympics. The women went into the pipe first for their first run and while they got themselves back up to the top of the pipe for their second, the men came down for their first. Rukia hadn’t seen the contest done like this before but as she googled it she saw it seemed to be a popular format for some of the contests in snowboarding.

Each time Rangiku and Toshiro were seen at the top of the pipe, Rukia and Byakuya cheered and Rukia felt the swooping feeling of nerves in her stomach. She didn’t get as anxious with her own free skate that day, compared to how she felt watching Rangiku and Toshiro spin outside of that daunting half pipe.

‘It’s not as easy as it looks,’ Rukia told Byakuya, then proceeded to explain how Toshiro had gotten her on his board and just how difficult it was to even stay upright let alone go fast down a hill. Byakuya listened intently, doing his very best to learn about all that he’d missed during the Olympics.

‘Will you learn how to snowboard?’ he asked curiously, meaning more than just the meagre lesson she’d had with Toshiro.

Rukia bit the inside of her lip. She wanted too, she didn’t want to get left behind when all her friends and Toshiro could go and spend hours up a mountain either skiing or snowboarding. She knew that even Karin and Yuzu could both snowboard and ski so they could go on family trips together.

‘Yes,’ she said firmly. She’d learn to snowboard so she could go up the mountains with them, but she also knew it would likely take her quite a bit of time before she could attend anything other than the beginner’s slopes.

Knowing Gin and Toshiro, they’d both be fine going with her as she learned and Rukia prayed Rangiku had patience enough for it too. Maybe she could even encourage Gin to teach her so she could surprise Toshiro.

She filed the thought away and focused on the competition, where Rangiku pulled herself up into first place on her second run. Toshiro had went big and hard on his first run, putting himself directly up into first place. He was unseated in the second run but managed to claw it back and was put in first place again by the end of the second round. 

By the end of the final run both Rangiku and Toshiro had kept a hold of their first place and Rukia and Byakuya cheered loudly. Rukia fired Toshiro a congratulatory message which she watched him pull out his phone and read on screen, his stupid grin flashing from under his large goggles before the cameras cut away.

He couldn’t call before the award ceremony but Rukia and Byakuya watched that too, watched as he and Rangiku were given their gold medals and champagne bottles which were promptly popped and sprayed all over the top winners.

Toshiro looked elated with himself and Rukia beamed with pride at the screen, knowing he’d call her whenever he could.

\-----

The days leading up to her flight to Australia were torture. She and Byakuya had spoken at length about returning home and then flying back but the time didn’t seem to make much sense given how long the flights were. So they stayed for a while in Japan and then Byakuya flew back to Ireland as Rukia boarded the flight bound for Australia.

Byakuya had taken Rukia’s extra suitcase filled with her competition gear back to Ireland and that left Rukia to travel with her personal belongings in her large green suitcase. She’d packed the things she needed for the flight into her rucksack and boarded the flight, firing off a quick text to Toshiro who had gotten home only a few days before.

His reply text was filled with as many emoji’s as he could fit into his character limit which made Rukia laugh as she settled down into her business class chair. Most people flying business class hated that they could see over the doors that shut to give privacy, but with Rukia’s tiny demeanour that was never ever a problem. She would always make fun of Gin for it though, who was so tall he could see right over his own door and into hers.

The flight was over ten hours and Rukia spent as much of it sleeping as she could because she’d be landing in the early afternoon. It was agreed that Toshiro and company would come and pick them up at 12, as Renji and Gin’s flight from Ireland got in twenty minutes after Rukia’s. They’d also come up with a prank for Rangiku which had been inspired by Renji but enforced by everyone including Toshiro who was in on it.

Rukia sat back in her seat grinning. She’d flicked her TV onto the map of the world showing she was about an hour away from her destination and decided to go and get ready in the bathroom. The business class bathrooms were bigger than the normal ones allowing her much more room to get ready. She’d prepared a special outfit for Toshiro, mostly to get him back for his skype call stunt where he had her begging. Rukia needed him to know she was still in charge. Putting on her burlesque underwear she slipped into her flared tartan skirt and threw on an old t-shirt of his he’d left her which fell down over her shoulder. The outfit had been planned in advance, because the skirts length would make it appear like she was just wearing tights instead of stockings. Only when she bent over would anything be revealed, and there was only going to be one person getting _that_ view.

Grinning mischievously she made her way back to her seat. The suspenders were not comfortable to sit in, but halfway through an episode of House they were preparing to land anyway. Rukia packed all her stuff, corrected her seat and adjusted herself. She’d spent more than a little bit of time putting a plug in, so once Toshiro and her were alone, they could get right to the good stuff without him having to do any preparation.

Rukia was content with the knowledge that she was still the powerhouse in the relationship when it came to sex and she’d use today to prove that to him. Though she was also excited about getting to spend time with Toshiro and his family, she was more excited for all the alone time they’d get together.

It was awkward walking with the plug in, but Rukia knew enough to make her steps look casual and like she wasn’t hiding a dirty little secret. She could see heads turning though as she walked through the airport and checked the board times for Renji and Gin’s flight. Rukia contented herself with waiting for them at their gate and threw up a hand in welcome as they stepped through it.

‘Ahoy mates,’ she grinned and Gin rushed up to her, sweeping her off her feet and into a massive bear hug. She was sure she flashed some strangers her underwear as he set her down.

‘Ah’v missed yeh,’ Gin said and took her hand as they walked through the airport and out towards the pickup point.

‘I missed you too, congratulations on the silver,’ she grinned at him and Gin beamed with pride. He had been riding on a high from his Olympic medal and managed to snatch silver at the World Championships. Rukia congratulated Renji on his bronze and then they were walking to the meeting point with Toshiro and Rangiku were to be waiting.

It was easy enough to find and Rukia couldn’t help the blinding smile as she saw the Australian team waiting eagerly for them. Toshiro was there, tiny in demeanour and beaming hugely, setting out at a light jog in her direction the moment he spotted her. Rukia held out her arms and he flung himself into them.

His scent engulfed her and she let out a deep sigh of longing. The hug felt like coming home. He was literal perfection and the reunion was sweet in the air as he tilted her chin up so he could look at her. Toshiro’s fingers gently touched her temple, his teal eyes boring into hers, his gaze heavy with emotion, then he ducked his head down and captured her lips. Toshiro had a lot more self-control than she did though, he pulled back before things could get too heated, but she noticed the way his eyes swept over his t-shirt perched precariously on her thin shoulders.

Rukia smirked to herself… he had _no_ idea.

Ichigo and Renji had reunited as had Rangiku and Gin. Rukia watched her best friend for a while as Rangiku melted against him and felt her chest rise with pride. Rangiku gushed about Gin’s silver and he gushed back just as equally over her gold.

‘We actually did somefin fer yeh,’ Gin grinned at her and Rangiku blinked.

‘What did you do for me?’ she asked puzzled.

Rukia smirked and slipped away from Toshiro who was also smirking, since he and Ichigo were both in on this joke.

‘Ah got yer name tattooed, look!’ Gin pulled down his trousers enough to flash the pale smooth skin of his ass where Rangiku’s full name resided inside a love heart.

Rangiku looked at it, torn between so many emotions she didn’t seem able to express any of them. Then Rukia and Renji jumped in.

‘I did too,’ Rukia said, flashing her ass, where her own tattoo of Rangiku’s whole name sat nestled inside a snowboard outline. Rangiku opened her mouth to speak, but Rukia’s eyes flickered at that moment to Toshiro. His eyes were greedily drinking in the sight of the visible suspender stretched over the skin of her ass. He’d know what that meant of course, but Rangiku seemed to be freaking out too much over the tattoos to fully notice what Rukia was wearing.

‘Oh, well, um,’ she stuttered and then finally Renji stepped forward and flashed his ass too where Rangiku’s name also sat.

Rangiku’s face went from a horrified pale look to flushed red in an instant.

‘You guys are a bunch of asses,’ she hissed and they all laughed.

‘How long will that take to come off?’ Ichigo asked, eyeing his boyfriend’s skin for a while before they all tucked their butts back into their clothes.

‘The instructions of the pen said three days.’ Renji shrugged and Toshiro blinked in confusion at Rukia.

‘Who did yours?’ he asked.

‘Byakuya,’ she smirked and everyone looked shocked for a moment. ‘It’s cool, he’s become super chill since the whole Olympics thing now. He didn’t approve at first but when I explained it to him he did think it was incredibly funny. He had a limit of how far down my ass he was willing to go though.’

‘Nae wonder,’ Gin laughed, ‘he’s yer brother.’

‘He’s seen me in skating outfits that show off a lot more skin than I presented him as a canvas,’ she yawned and stretched back. The neckline of Toshiro’s t-shirt slipped, revealing the undecorated canvas of her throat. Rukia knew exactly what she was doing but acted completely innocent. Toshiro had his hand on the handle of her suitcase and seemed to have set his jaw.

‘So what’s the plan?’ Rukia asked.

‘Well, Gin, Ichigo, Renji and I will take my car back to Jindabyne, it’s a five hour drive,’ Rangiku replied, ‘but I have a banger playlist prepared. Toshiro will drive you back in his car.’

Rukia was fine with that, both Renji and Gin had travelled much further and would be looking to get home so they could get a sense of normality as soon as possible. Rukia hadn’t travelled nearly as long and followed Toshiro out in the direction of his car, she wondered if they could take their time and enjoy some time alone.

‘You look beautiful,’ Toshiro whispered to her under his breath when none of their friends were paying them any attention. Rukia’s lips tugged up at the corners, she recognised that compliment for what it was. A combination of how good it was to see her again but also that he’d spotted the burlesque underwear.

‘Thank you, so do you,’ she replied back to him, touching his arm as he slipped the suitcase into the boot of his car. It was true, Toshiro was wearing only a pair of light blue jeans and a plain t shirt but he still managed to make it look good. His eyes briefly cast down to where her hand lingered on his bicep before she walked around the edge of the car and into the passenger seat.

The car ride back to Jindabyne was intense. Rukia’s skirt had hitched a little higher on her leg as she sat in the car, drawing his eyes to her thigh. The entire current between them seemed to have shifted into something a little more urgent though it was all bubbling under the pretence of normality. Rukia commented on how hot it was, Toshiro pointed out various facts about the places they passed and for the most part everything about their trip felt normal. They caught up on the competition, the behind the scenes fun that was never shown on TV, and Rukia even got a funny story of Toshiro walking in on Gin and Ran getting it on in a hot tub.

‘Naturally I didn’t go in, but it was nice to have the tables turned the other way even if I was missing you like crazy,’ Toshiro chuckled. His eyes hadn’t strayed to her for over an hour now, clearly set upon the road. The landscape was flat and dry looking, exactly what she’d have expected for Australia, but every now and again they did pass some interesting sights.

Rukia reached out and placed her hand on his thigh. Enjoying the way he glanced down and swallowed.

‘So we’re going straight to your family’s house for dinner?’ she asked casually.

‘Yeah…’

‘And we won’t be alone again until later tonight?’ Rukia asked.

‘Yeah…’

‘Hmm,’ she slid her hand up his thigh and felt him shudder under her touch.

Toshiro seemed to get the hint, knowing they were only an hour or so away from their destination, he pulled into a side road, stopping behind a few large trees which would shield them enough. The sound of Toshiro’s seatbelt coming free was all the encouragement Rukia needed. She was out of her seat and in his lap in an instant. Their mouths finding each other quickly and Rukia groaned as she swallowed the taste of him down.

She’d missed him more than she thought possible. His hands slipped under her skirt, grasping her ass where the straps were now pulled tight against her skin. Toshiro moaned into her mouth and Rukia’s hand was down at his fly in a second, unzipping it and with his help she had him out and in her hand. He felt just as thick as she remembered, and as much as she wanted him in her mouth she had other ideas for this session.

Toshiro’s hands wandered, and slipped inside her underwear where he paused, feeling the plug inside her. He broke away from their kiss, the confusion evident on his face as he gently prodded the base, understanding slowly dawning.

Rukia laughed at the stupidly dumb look on his features, before she reached down and pulled it out. Toshiro didn’t seem to care where it went now and Rukia put it on the leather seat where she’d been sitting knowing they could clean up later. Her underwear was shoved to the side and before either of them could fully comprehend what was happening she was sinking down on top of him. His groan of longing filled the car, his body shuddering under her as she slipped down onto him with no need for preparation. As she got to the base, she could feel the stretch but it wasn’t painful.

It didn’t take them long before Rukia was setting a brutal pace, a pace that he had no hope of controlling because she was on top of him and there was no possible way they could flip over. Toshiro’s eyes were blown wide and he moaned loudly when they broke apart their kiss.

‘Fuck,’ he gasped, ‘Rukia if you keep this up I’m not going to last…’ Toshiro groaned.

‘Good,’ she leaned further back, letting him drag deliciously against her upper wall, ‘I don’t want you to last that’s why I told you not to masturbate.’

He groaned at that, and pushed his sweaty hair from his forehead as she continued to ride him. It didn’t take anything more than a couple of thrusts before he was curling in on himself, calling out her name as he came hard.

Rukia continued her long lazy strokes, milking him dry before she rolled off him and back onto her seat.

Toshiro didn’t seem able to speak and it took him a few moments before he could tuck himself back inside his jeans and zip up. Rukia had replaced the plug, making sure to give Toshiro a show as she did so.

‘Is… is that just until you can get to a bathroom?’ he asked hesitantly. Toshiro knew her too well. He knew that wasn’t at all why she was doing it. This was a power play. He’d have to spend the entire time in the presence of his family knowing the state she was in and she could use it to tease him as much as she wanted.

His eyes seemed to be begging for mercy but as the words hadn’t come out of his mouth yet she simply smirked.

‘You can delude yourself into thinking that’s right.’ She shrugged and Toshiro groaned, running a hand down his face. Once he’d caught his breath they were back on the road. His driving much faster now that he seemed to want to get the rest of the torturous day over and done with.

They pulled up at his house and Rukia let out a long low whistle. It was beautiful, pale brickwork set against a much greener landscape than she’d thought possible for Australia. The trees were shorter and the grass just a touch lighter than she was used too in Ireland, but as she stepped out the car she instantly felt at home. The large double garage had Ichigo’s car already parked and they made their way up the steps to the front door.

Shielding her eyes against the brilliant blue of the sunny sky Rukia saw that each of the houses were different, the landscape was built a lot more like America. Toshiro held the door open for her and she stepped through, thanking him and was soon engulfed in a flying hug from Yuzu.

‘Hey Yuzu,’ Rukia chuckled and the young blonde stepped back, her eyes sparkling with admiration as she openly began to gush about how much cleaner Rukia’s performance was at the championships. Despite the fact that Rukia had seen her there and hung out with her and Jinta while she was in Japan, it was still nice to have such a warm welcome into Toshiro’s family home.

‘Don’t suffocate her,’ Isshin laughed and Rukia stepped up to offer the large father figure a brief hug. ‘Dinner will be served soon.’

‘Thank you Isshin,’ Rukia smiled and Toshiro lead her into the main living area where Gin, Renji, Rangiku and Ichigo were hanging out with Karin and Jinta. Yuzu joined them, skipping along beside Rukia, but Toshiro’s hand never left hers until they were both sitting on one of the large couches, his arm then wrapped around her shoulders.

The formula one was on in the background as the friends spoke. Karin disappeared to help Isshin and Kukaku in the kitchen. Rukia wondered if it had anything to do with her feeling left out of the pairs of couples now currently watching the television but decided she could discuss that with Toshiro in private later on that evening.

When dinner was called they all settled themselves around the giant dinner table. Isshin and Kukaku had to attach another table to the end for all the additional guests and Rukia loaded up her plate with as many calories as she was physically allowed to eat. Thankfully because it was a table of athletes, the food had been grilled and there wasn’t a single plate of anything fried. The vegetables had been steamed to perfection and Rukia tucked in with everyone else.

Toshiro seemed to have relaxed, and she let him be led into a false sense of security. The skype call had not been forgotten and the only hint she gave to him that anything bad was going to happen was a hand on his thigh.

‘The steak is really thick and juicy,’ Rukia commented innocently. Isshin thanked her and started chatting about how they made steak in Australia. Only Toshiro seemed to have gotten the undertones of what she was saying as her hand slid up his leg.

Rukia chanced a glance at him, he was staring intently down at his vegetables, his cheeks heating up. Rukia shifted her position, feeling the plug roll with her hips and occasionally let out little content sighs as she did so. The sounds were low enough that only Toshiro could hear them, considering directly to her right was Renji who talked in a loud booming voice with Ichigo. Toshiro’s face seemed to get progressively hotter, especially when her hand began to stroke him through his jeans.

The white haired snowboarder didn’t seem ready to stop her though and Rukia had to hide her smirk from him when she felt his legs widen to allow her more access. Isshin was going into detail about how you properly prepared a steak for an Aussie barbeque and promised that they’d have to do burgers right for her some time.

‘That’d be amazing,’ she sighed innocently, remembering the time she’d first seen Toshiro and compared him to juicy burger at the Olympics. ‘I love thick meat, even though I’m restricted to when I can have it.’

Toshiro gagged on his drink and Rukia turned two large innocent eyes to him.

‘Are you okay?’ she asked and Toshiro glared at her. Rukia’s fingers had been growing bolder under the table, hidden from view by the cloth covering them. The tip of her finger slipped inside his jeans, brushing against the head of his dick which was pretty hard and nearly poking out.

‘F-fine,’ Toshiro glared at her, trying to communicate everything with his eyes. But instead of paying him attention, Rukia just turned away from him and back to her plate. Her finger traced the wet tip of his dick before she pulled her hand away and picked one of her veggies up with her fingers to munch on. Rukia could feel Toshiro’s eyes on her and heard his intake of breath as she sucked on the tip of her finger pretending to lick the buttery glaze from the vegetable off instead.

‘Rukia, after dinner can I show you something?’ Yuzu asked and Toshiro threw her a glance across the table. Rukia turned around to his baby sister and gave her a blinding smile.

‘Of course you can,’ she smirked.

Rukia kept her hands to herself for a while after that, but when she could feel Toshiro’s eyes on her, she’d roll her hips. The plug inside her rolled with her movements and she let out a shuddering breath low enough that only Toshiro could hear.

‘Are you not hungry Toshiro?’ Isshin asked after a moment, everyone turned to glance at Toshiro’s plate where half of his food sat unfinished.

‘Not really, he mumbled, his face bright red and Rukia picked up her glass of water to hide her smirk, catching Gin’s eye from across the table. As if her best friend could sense what the hell was going on he shook his head at her and mouthed something about being evil.

Perhaps Isshin sensed something else was going on or he simply didn’t want to question Toshiro further because the topic was dropped in an instant which just made Rukia chuckle more into her water.

She could feel Toshiro glaring at her but continued to not meet his gaze.

‘Did you kids want desert?’ Isshin asked, standing up and clearing some of the plates away with the help of Yuzu.

‘No thanks,’ Toshiro mumbled bleakly.

‘No thank you Isshin,’ Rukia said with a grin, her hand back on Toshiro’s crotch which seemed to have lost some of its hardness through the rest of the meal. ‘We’ll get desert later.’

Toshiro made an exasperated sound behind her and Isshin’s eyebrows raised a fraction before he simply chuckled and turned away.

‘Please stop that,’ Toshiro hissed in her ear when they couldn’t be overheard.

‘Stop what?’ Rukia asked, turning to him with the most innocent gaze she could manage. 

‘All of it,’ he glared at her, ‘just everything, stop it.’

‘Do you want me to stop?’ her face was so close to his now they were almost kissing. Rukia could taste his breath on the air between them, smell his familiar scent clouding her judgement.

‘No…’ Toshiro breathed back clearly the proximity affecting his mouth. ‘I mean yes, yes stop it.’

Rukia giggled at him as he leaned back, looking dazed and lost. She could take pity on him and be kind, but it wasn’t in her nature.

‘Fine,’ she replied with a casual shrug of her shoulders. Rukia stood up and turned away from him, ensuring that upon her exit from the seat he got to see as much of her ass as the tiny space would allow.

Rukia didn’t look back at him though as Yuzu called her over and she made her way toward the girl. Yuzu was looking a little sheepish, her laptop in her hands and Rukia gave her an encouraging smile as she bent across the arm rest of the chair Yuzu occupied.

‘I hope you don’t think is too lame,’ Yuzu mumbled shyly.

‘I don’t think anything you do is lame, Yuzu,’ Rukia smiled at her. Yuzu turned the screen around and Rukia studied it, pushing the thoughts of being bent low enough for Toshiro to see her underwear from her mind. In front of her on the screen was the Rukia Fans Official page. Rukia’s mouth parted in shock.

‘Wait, you’re the person who made that page?’ Rukia asked, her eyes skimming it and forgetting about her teasing for the first time that day.

‘Yeah,’ Yuzu mumbled, ‘I hope you don’t mind.’

The entire screen was dominated with pages dedicated to Rukia’s career, index pages leading off to Rukia’s various achievements and interviews and of course a whole section dedicated to the RukiShiro ship that had trended.

‘You started that hashtag?’ Rukia could feel herself giggling, her fingers pressing down on the keyboard as she explored various sections of the page.

‘Yeah,’ Yuzu still sounded timid and scared but honestly? Rukia was humbled. She’d always liked the fan page because they stuck up for her and her reputation of sleeping around, citing the same argument that Rukia always had. If she’d been a man no one would have cared.

‘I love it,’ Rukia laughed, ‘I can’t believe it was you.’

Yuzu seemed to visibly relax under the praise and grinned more broadly up at Rukia from her spot on the seat.

‘Does this mean I can officially call it an official fan page?’ she asked and Rukia laughed. Yuzu had adopted the name for it after Rukia had given it a green light on her socials, but at the time she hadn’t really known who ran it, only that she liked the content and how well they seemed to keep the world informed of her achievements.

‘Of course,’ Rukia replied, smiling as she spotted a massive banner and section of the place dedicated to her quad lutz. ‘This is amazing Yuzu thank you.’

‘You’re welcome,’ Yuzu squeaked at the praise, ‘thank you for helping with my triple lutz.’

‘How’s it going?’ Rukia asked, genuinely curious now.

‘Really well now, I can land it consistently about 80 or 90 percent of the time.’

Rukia beamed at her and then felt a pair of arms wrapping around her waist. Toshiro’s body was pressing against her ass and Rukia quickly straightened herself back up. She’d forgotten about the view she was giving him and everyone else behind her while being so engrossed in what Yuzu had been showing her.

‘You two are so cute,’ Yuzu squealed as Rukia placed her hands over Toshiro’s on her stomach.

‘Thanks,’ Rukia winked at the younger girl, but Toshiro didn’t speak.

‘I was just showing Rukia my fan page Toshiro,’ she said and held the laptop up for him to see. Rukia felt Toshiro take a deep breath, like he was genuinely trying to steady himself.

‘That’s great,’ the enthusiasm was present but it was clear he was distracted. Yuzu didn’t seem to have noticed anything though and turned back to her laptop screen as she began typing something on the editorial tool of the web page.

‘You’re driving me nuts,’ Toshiro whispered so quickly in Rukia’s ear it was like a breath. One of his hands slipped around her back and up under her skirt to dig into the bare flesh of her cheek.

‘Good,’ Rukia breathed back, ‘I’ve not forgotten that Skype call.’

Twisting free of his arms, Rukia walked out of his grasp and over toward Gin and Rangiku who were chatting on the sofa.

‘Love what you’re wearing,’ Rangiku winked at her as she approached.

‘Cannae say ah approve, tha’ poor lad,’ Gin commented shaking his head and Rangiku laughed at him.

‘Would you want Rangiku to wear something like this then Gin?’ Rukia asked, watching as the strawberry blonde flashed her boyfriend a smirk.

‘Dinnae go puttin’ they thoughts in mah heid,’ he groaned covering his eyes. ‘You two are bad fir each other.’

Rukia and Rangiku high fived over Gin and were soon joined by Toshiro who had brought a glass of diet Lemonade for Rukia and various other drinks for everyone else sitting around the table. As soon as Toshiro sat down on the sofa, Rukia sat down on his lap. His hands encased her, holding her close and he drew in a long breath, clearly accepting his fate.

‘Rukia looks really pretty today doesn’t she Toshiro?’ Rangiku asked innocently stirring her drink with one of the Shiba clan’s reusable metal straws.

‘Yeah she does,’ Karin said jumping down into one of the other large armchairs around the sitting area.

‘Thanks Karin,’ Rukia winked at Toshiro’s sister who simply smirked at them and turned on the TV. It seemed that sports were a huge deal to the entire family and before they knew what was happening they were sitting conversing over a game of football on the giant TV.

It was one sport that Rukia didn’t fully understand the draw too, but she cheered on the team that Karin wanted to win, trusting the young Shiba’s taste. Irelands football team never seemed to do well, but they did better than the Scottish team, which was something Rukia made sure to point out to Gin.

‘Aye, aye, aye,’ he retorted flipping her off.

Rukia still hadn’t been distracted from her original plan though. When everyone else’s attention was on the TV, Rukia would grind down on Toshiro’s lap, loving the way the plug moved inside her. Toshiro’s hand was out of sight of the rest of the family but was massaging the bare skin under her skirt out of view.

Rukia could feel the rhythmic pounding of his heart in his chest, she could feel his hot breath ghosting the back of her neck and occasional she’d let out a low noise for his ears only.

‘I could give you a tour of the house,’ Toshiro finally said, ‘show you my room.’ He added a quick squeeze to the flesh he’d been massaging to further get his point across. Rukia smirked.

Daisy had bounded in and jumped up between Gin and Rangiku where they all sat laughing, providing Toshiro the perfect distraction.

‘But I’m watching the game,’ Rukia replied back to him and Toshiro let out a little whine that drew Daisy’s attention to him. The dog made her way across Gin’s lap, stepping on his crotch on her way and slapping Rangiku with her tail.

Rukia met the dog enthusiastically, rubbing her ears while Gin recovered himself and Toshiro gripped Rukia’s hip and firmly brought her ass back to where she’d been sitting on his lap. With a knowing laugh into the dog’s fur, Daisy did her best to try and climb onto both their laps too. It was awkward but they made it work.

Toshiro was the one who decided when it was time for them to leave. Rangiku and Gin seemed to agree, clearly the couples now wanting to spend time alone after watching the football match the family. The jet lag was catching up with a few of them and Rukia knew she wasn’t going to be sleeping as soon as they made it to Toshiro’s flat.

Rukia was unsurprised to find that Toshiro barely spoke to her on the car ride to his place, thankfully he didn’t stay too far away from his fathers and Rukia continued her teasing in the car. Her hand running up and down his thigh as he sped toward his and Rangiku’s flat.

‘Someone’s cranky,’ Rukia commented dryly and Toshiro narrowed his eyes as he stepped out of the car. The block of flats they’d parked beside looked expensive. It was tall and imposing, with all the lights illuminating the base of the building and not a drug dealer in sight. Rukia stepped out the car, glancing up at the large building.

‘I wonder why,’ Toshiro growled under his breath, holding her door open and slamming it shut once she was free. He helped her with her suitcase and together the two of them made it up the stairs and into his apartment before Rangiku and Gin made it back.

‘It’s nice,’ Rukia said glancing around the tidy and clean space. It was clear that it had been lived in, unlike her own flat each time she went home. There were also signs that Daisy came to visit too, with a dog bed and a few toys in the corner of the living room. They had a sizeable DVD collection and just like Rukia, they had a considerable Medal and trophy collection too. Rukia wondered which ones belonged to Rangiku and which ones were Toshiro’s.

She was just about to ask when she felt herself being swept up into Toshiro’s arms, her attention being force onto him as he stomped over toward a room down the hall.

‘Am I not getting the tour?’ Rukia asked, her voice thick with amusement as Toshiro kicked open his bedroom door.

‘Sure,’ he said, his voice with a hard edge to it, ‘let’s start here. This is my room.’

He kicked the door closed behind him and next thing she knew she was on his bed. Barely getting time to even see his room and figure out what he’d done with his Gold Olympic medal, his lips were on hers. Rukia melted instantly, his lips were hard and aggressive against hers and somewhere behind them they could hear Gin and Rangiku entering the flat but it didn’t pull Toshiro’s attention away from her.

His movements reminded Rukia of the time they’d had sex in the shower of the gym at the Olympics. He was impatient and in his impatience he was struggling to get a lot of her clothing off her. Rukia giggled at him, and pulled back long enough to help undo the stockings which he ripped off her skin.

‘Easy, Love,’ Rukia whispered and Toshiro shot her a glare.

‘Alexa, play 90’s playlist,’ Toshiro called into the room. The small black box lit up and confirmed his instruction before music began to play loudly around the room.

‘Is that so Gin and Rangiku don’t hear us?’ Rukia giggled against his lips and he crawled over her.

‘Yes,’ he mumbled, pulling away long enough to duck under her neck and ravish the bare skin exposed to him. Rukia closed her eyes against the feeling, almost as gone as he was in the moment.

‘I reckon they’ll still hear us,’ she groaned out into the room. In response, Toshiro simply pulled the last remaining garments of her clothing from her and pinned her to his bed. Rukia relinquished all the control, loving the feeling of being dominated entirely by him. Sensing the power shift, Toshiro began to suck large purple bruises into every inch of her skin that would be hidden to anyone but himself.

Rukia lay on the bed, groaning and watched eagerly as he shed his t-shirt and pulled his jeans and boxers off. Toshiro turned back to her and Rukia reached out to touch him, but he instantly pinned her hands to the bed.

‘No you don’t,’ he growled and Rukia laughed nervously, supposing she deserved the rough treatment after all the teasing she’d done to him already that day.

As soon as the plug was removed from inside her, he’d replaced it and Rukia could barely contain her moans. Her hands struggled to get free of his iron grip but he wasn’t letting her go and proceeded to move her up the bed with the speed and force of his thrusts.

Rukia wasn’t sure if her voice called out high enough above the music or not, but it wouldn’t have taken a genius to work out exactly what they were doing in that bedroom.

Toshiro gave a final, thrust, his breath hot on her neck and came hard. Rukia had already come before him, and lay as a panting sweaty mess on his sheets.

At one point during their activities Rukia had let slip some random things in Irish. Not even sure herself what she’d been babbling on about she curled into Toshiro’s side and wrinkled her nose. Next to wearing the plug all day, two rounds of fucking and being in the Aussie heat she needed a shower.

‘I need to wash,’ she groaned against his skin and Toshiro chuckled, turning around to peck her on the cheek.

‘Me too,’ he made a face and she smirked as he stood up. Toshiro wandered over to his wardrobe and Rukia finally glanced around his room. In the corner was a stand with several snowboards on it and a few trophies on his chest of drawers. He had a couple of posters of famous Snowboarders on his walls and Rukia recognised an old one of his father instantly.

Rukia’s attention was only drawn back to Toshiro when he put a fresh towel down on the bed. Rukia sat up and picked one up, watching as Toshiro wrapped the other around his waist.

‘It’s a shame you have to hide all those muscles from view,’ she flirted and he grinned stupidly at her. His smile still stole her breath away, thanks to those bright white teeth and silly little dimples that he had.

‘You’ll see them soon, we can shower together,’ he leaned down and kissed her forehead in such an affectionate manner it took everything in Rukia’s power not to melt uselessly in the covers. Toshiro walked to the door and waited until she covered herself before opening it and slipping out into the hall.

He was only gone for a moment or two before he slipped back into the room with a massive grin on his face.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘They’re showering together,’ Toshiro laughed and Rukia felt her mouth fall open then she laughed too.

‘Nice one, Gin,’ she said and Toshiro turned his music down and sat down beside her on the bed as they listened out for the door to the bathroom opening and closing. It didn’t take too long before they heard the close of another door and Toshiro peaked back out into the hall and confirmed that they’d gone inside Rangiku’s room.

Toshiro led Rukia down the hall and toward the bathroom. The air was moist and warm and she needed little persuasion to remove her towel before stepping into the large shower stall and turning on the warm water.

They showered together as they had done at the Olympics, taking time to wash each other’s backs and then they wrapped the towels around themselves and made their way back to Toshiro’s room feeling much cleaner than they had done an hour before.

Toshiro set his laptop up with the newest Spiderman movie and Rukia crawled into his arms, snuggling down into his bare chest and yawning. Despite it being the first time she’d ever spent in his bed, it already felt like home. His scent was all around her and everywhere she looked there were signs of him everywhere. From the snow boots half tossed into a bag at the bottom of his bed, to a helmet hanging off the handle of his wardrobe, to his eclectic book collection on his desk.

The entire space screamed Toshiro Shiba and Rukia felt instantly safe and at home. His warm arms around her were just a reminder of that, as well as the gentle thrum of his heart under his skin. Rukia remembered for a moment when she thought she’d lost him in that crash but quickly shook herself and climbed further into his arms. Toshiro readjusted them until she was comfortable enough then reached over and paused the movie for a second. At first Rukia was confused and glanced up to ask him why he had done it, then she strained her ears, listening.

Toshiro could barely contain his chuckle and after a few moments Rukia joined in.

‘Sounds like they’re having fun,’ Rukia giggled.

‘Yeah it does,’ after a moment he made a face and shook his head turning the movie back on, ‘it’s not exactly what I want to hear though. I’m just happy for her.’

‘I bet you’ve had to sit and endure a lot of guys coming through here?’ Rukia asked, ‘she’s quite the looker.’

‘Tell me about it,’ Toshiro sighed, he’d taken to playing with the delicate fingers of Rukia’s left hand as he spoke. ‘It’s even more annoying when they’re assholes and I know it but she doesn’t see it.’

‘At least Gin isn’t,’ Rukia said.

‘No, he’s defiantly the best person I could have hoped for her to end up with.’ Toshiro agreed.

‘Good I am glad you approve, could you imagine the fight we’d get into if you didn’t?’ her voice held a mock sort of scorn to it and he picked up on it right away.

‘I know, and you’d not stand a chance considering you’re so tiny.’ Toshiro chuckled back at her.

‘Hey now, I’ve seen Rocky, I can punch!’ Rukia squirmed in his grasp and Toshiro let her go, the smile broad on his lips and the two pretty dimples flashing at her as she sat up. Rukia attempted to punch his hands which he’d held up for her to jab at.

‘Yeah,’ he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, ‘you’d bring me down with just one of these.’

‘Oi,’ Rukia laughed, punching as hard as she could and Toshiro took it with a gentle raise of his eyebrow, ‘I’m tired, cut me some slack.’

‘You’d not stand a chance against me, Kuchiki,’ he drawled, ‘you know why?’

‘Why?’ Rukia narrowed her eyes at him and a playful grin lit his entire face up.

‘Because I know all your weak spots,’ Toshiro replied and before she could respond he’d grabbed her towards him and his fingers began prodding her abdomen. With a yelp, Rukia tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he used his unfair bodily advantage to press down upon her and hold her in place. His fingers ruthlessly attacked her sides until she was gasping for breath and begging him to let her go.

Toshiro relinquished with a chuckle and Rukia gave him the finger as she tried her best to get her breath back. He picked his laptop up, which had fallen over onto a pile of clothing on the floor during their wrestle.

‘You’re the devil,’ she panted.

‘Revenge is best served ticklish,’ he laughed and Rukia huffed.

Toshiro leaned over and scooped her back into his side, though it did take Rukia a moment to trust him enough before she relaxed back into him.

He flicked the laptop back up and pressed play and they watched the end of the movie together, chatting amicably throughout about their competitions and anything else that they’d not touched upon in the car on the ride to his fathers.

Toshiro finally shut the laptop over and Rukia felt him moving around her, jostling her as little as possible as her eyes were closed and she was part of the way between sleep and wakefulness.

Rukia heard the click of the lamp being turned off then he was snuggling down beside her and she felt his lips on her head.

‘Goodnight, Beautiful,’ he murmured and Rukia felt a small smile tug at her lips.

‘Night, Handsome,’ she mumbled sleepily back and allowed the gentle thuds of his beating heart and the sound of his breathing that she’d missed so much lull her into a gentle sleep.

\----------

**@RukiShiroShipper69**   
_OUR GIRL GOT THE GOLLLDDDDDDDDD  
Retweeted from **@RukiaFansOfficial**  
Rukia Kuchiki, our Irish Queen, takes the Gold at the World Championships [Video Attached]_

**@IrishLass101  
 _@_** **_RukiShiroShipper69_ ** _OFC SHE DID! No one else stood a chance (heart eyes) (sparkling heart)_

**@KuchikiQueen  
 _@_** **_IrishLass101_ ** _I can’t believe how clean that triple lutz was this time, compared to the Olympics, look at that height!!!! (heart eyes) (heart eyes) (kiss emoji)_

**@Toshiupdates  
 _@_** **_IrishLass @KuchikiQueen @RukiShiroShipper69_ ** _She’s now visiting Toshiro in Australia!! [image attached] [image attached]_

****

**@KuchikiQueen  
 _@_** **_Toshiupdates_ ** _OMFGGGGGGG MY HEART!!!!!!!!_

**@IrishLass101  
 _@Toshiupdates_** _My whole life has become about this ship, tbh #RukiShiro #IreAussie_

**@RukiShiroShipper69  
 _@Toshiupdates @IrishLass101_** _OMFG SAME! They’re TOOOO perfect!!!!!!! **@RukiShiroIsDEAD** Still waiting for you to comment tbh._

**@IrishLass101**   
**_@RukiShiroIsDEAD @RukiShiroShipper69_ ** _FUCKING LOLLLLLLL_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I have a lot of phantom readers, since we've given you over 200,000 words... it would be really nice to hear from you. Getting comments and reviews inspires writers!!
> 
> If you want to join our Bleach fan fiction writing discord then you can do so here: discord.gg/drgmaf8
> 
> We also started a Bleach podcast, you can find us by searching 'The Seireitei' or 'Bleach Podcast' on most major platforms (Spotify, Google pod, DoublePod etc)
> 
> My trello can be found here: https://trello.com/b/3qJpG18x/lethans-fan-fictions  
> Where you can be kept up to date on my writing projects and when the next chapter is due up!


	14. Epilogue Part 2: Going 4 Gold

Art by: Ammsterdamn

* * *

‘You’re an asshole.’

It was intended as affectionate, but fell breathless from her lips instead. Rukia twisted around, her face nuzzling into his neck and her hand twisting in his hair as she tried to get her breath back. They were sitting on a rough rocky surface of the Australian outback. Well, Rukia wasn’t sure if it was the outback or not, but it was certainly wild. They’d climbed for a while to get to the very spot and where they were now perched, looked out over beautiful Australian landscape. The colours in Australia were different. They were more muted and dusty but in their pale complexion was a subtle delicateness that contrasted with the harsh sun that beat down around them.

The sky was where Rukia really spotted the difference. Ireland was plagued with deep rumbling grey clouds, and only had two weather settings, rainy or snowy. If it was neither of them, it was usually at least overcast, which meant that Australians skies were painted with a brush she rarely got to see. Rukia travelled, of course, but most of her time spent in other countries was in a rink or a hotel or gym. It was rare she got to spend time, like she was now, fully appreciating the beauty of the place where she was. The sky in Australia pale blue, a hue that faded into white the closer it got to the horizon, it seemed to match the colour scheme of the country, and there wasn’t a single cloud in sight.

‘A handsome one, I think you’ll agree,’ Toshiro’s chuckle rumbled around the quiet landscape.

‘You’re lucky you have your looks,’ Rukia mumbled into his neck, rolling her eyes. The comment earned Rukia a small kiss, as his hands lessened their hold on her. As they’d climbed the mountain, Toshiro had explained it was where he’d come to snowboard, and looking at it, Rukia couldn’t see the connection. There wasn’t a lick of snow anywhere in sight, and she was sure he was winding her up again. He’d already managed to do several times on the trip already, the most memorable being the stupid Drop Bear fiasco.

At least it had been a bear and not a snake. Rukia hated snakes. Though he’d managed to wind her up about that too, and Rukia had fallen easily for that one, given Australia’s reputation and how much she despised the slithering beasts.

‘Today was nice,’ Rukia murmured contently, moving to rest her head against his chest, listening to his heart as it quickened. ‘ _Minus the snake ordeal,’_ she wanted to add, but said that in her head.

‘I’m glad you enjoyed it,’ Toshiro murmured back. His hands had found hers, and he sat playing idly with her fingers, in a fashion that had become so familiar to them.

It was clear that Toshiro was avoiding the topic as much as she was. They were dancing delicately around the edges of it now. Their time in this fictional landscape together, was coming to an end. In two days’ time, Rukia would be on a flight back to Ireland. They had very little alone time left to enjoy each other, as they were planning to spend their final night at Yukio’s house, giving Rukia a chance to meet the best friend.

‘I’m glad we came up here,’ Rukia said softly. It was true, they’d spent a lot of time together doing various things, most of Rukia’s favourite things were behind closed doors, but she’d learned to enjoy just spending time with him out in the open too. He’d taken her bike riding and of course hiking which was how they’d ended up where they were.

I’m just glad we haven’t seen any mountain spiders,’ Toshiro said, but Rukia was beyond falling for any more of his stupid bullshit and smacked his arm instead.

‘You’re an asshole,’ she repeated.

‘You’ll miss me though,’ Toshiro’s affectionate response came, finally touching on the topic that Rukia had been dreading. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to quell the emotions. She’d have to get used to saying goodbye to him and it hurt her.

‘We’ll see,’ Rukia joked back. The joke didn’t quite hit, her tone and the sense of impending doom that lingered between them drew from its delivery. Silence followed. Rukia hated silence, she couldn’t stand it, so instead she did what she always did best. Pushing herself up, she twisted in his hold and met his lips with hers. Rukia kissed him until she was sure she’d sucked all the air from his lungs, shoving the emotions down with a physical gesture as was in her nature to do. Toshiro’s hand slid into her hair, and he held her close, his taste so much like home that it made the thought of Ireland, foreign.

The gesture seemed to chase the impending unease away from them and when Rukia pulled back, his eyes were sparkling with that vivid light of life she loved so much. His face was all dimples and his teal eyes tender, as he gazed back at her. Rukia loved everything about his stupid face so much that it left a physical pain in her chest.

‘We better get going,’ Toshiro said.

Rukia still hadn’t forgotten the whole mountain snake/spider/drop bear ordeal. ‘Only if you carry me back down.’

Toshiro agreed with a chuckle and Rukia moved around to start packing things up. They’d brought a lot of food with them and she made sure to collect every bit of rubbish that they had. The last thing she needed was to appear on one of his Instagram rants about plastic packaging being left on the Australian mountainside.

Rukia teased him with that thought as a joke, while they threw apple cores into the trees to decompose, and Toshiro shot her a fierce look. His love for nature was not to be joked with, even if Rukia did hope that a snake might strangle itself in their plastic waste. With everything packed into the light blue bag, Rukia pulled it onto her shoulders and slipped the tartan mat through the hoops before climbing up onto Toshiro’s back.

Going down was faster than climbing had been, and Toshiro didn’t seem to have an issue with Rukia on his back. The skater was genuinely impressed with him and had expected him to put her down at some point. They made it all the way to the base though and only when the car was in sight did he let her finally slip off his back. Rukia threw him an impressed raise of her eyebrows, she knew he had stamina, but decided to test how much another time. She slipped the bag into the back seat, being careful of their water bottles and then slid gracefully into the front beside him. They were planning on having an early dinner with the other couples and Toshiro was worried about being late. Rukia realised, he still hated letting his family down, but she admired that about him. Toshiro pulled out onto the road, while Rukia got comfortable. The windows rolled down, she could feel the warm air brushing strands from her face, with a gentle sight she leaned back in the leather chair.

Toshiro was singing along to a song that was playing away in the background, it was an intricate composure, with a very indie like feel. He sang all the words, despite how fast the lyrics went and Rukia’s interest piqued. She reached forward and turned the dial of the song up, staring at the words on the Bluetooth dashboard.

“Nosebleed Section by Hilltop Hoods”

‘Never heard this before?’ Toshiro asked, an edge of ludicrous to his voice that had Rukia frowning and trying to remember.

‘I don’t think so?’

‘This is an Australian classic,’ he laughed, ‘I guess I never thought about it not being popular in other countries.’

‘It just reminds me how much more I still have to learn about you and Australia,’ Rukia grinned up at him and he smirked down at her.

They stopped talking, so they could enjoy the rest of the song, and Rukia pulled her phone out to add it to her “Toshiro” playlist. The Spotify playlist was public and already had over 100,000 followers, if any of them had never heard the song before, they were about to get a nice surprise.

‘Here,’ Toshiro said, nodding his head to the dash where a new song had popped up, ‘let me educate your taste buds.’

Great Southern Land by Icehouse was much more like the Australian songs Rukia was expecting, and she enjoyed it just as much as the last, even if the tone of it was different. By the time they pulled up to the restaurant, Rukia felt a little more enlightened in Australian culture, but that didn’t stop her from having to defend her own.

‘Irish pubs are better,’ the long standing argument continued and she rolled her eyes when he instantly disagreed.

‘You are incorrect,’ he scoffed back as they leaned against the old wood of the table and gazed out over the landscape.

Rukia had already educated him that the UK was where pubs first started, thus making them instantly better because they’d had time to properly mature. Everyone knew that the most authentic of any experience was where it originally came from, but still Toshiro tried to argue his futile argument back at her.

‘Irish pubs are more fun,’ Rukia shot back at him.

‘Aussie pubs are just as fun,’ he had the audacity to roll his eyes at her, ‘and you can sit outside because the weather is better.’

Well. She couldn’t dispute that. Sitting outside in the piss pouring rain, drinking a watered down beer and eating soggy crisps wasn’t quite as relaxing as sitting in the heat of Australia and drinking an ice cold beer. Toshiro chuckled and pulled her in to kiss her temple. Rukia decided to change the subject instead.

‘Should I be nervous about meeting Yukio tomorrow?’ Rukia looked at him while he sipped on his drink. He promptly shook his head at the question.

‘No way, Yukio is going to love you,’ Toshiro reassured her.

Rukia wasn’t convinced. She’d heard all kinds of stories from Rangiku about how protective Yukio was of Toshiro. Apparently Yukio had never really liked Toshiro’s ex and Rangiku was pretty open about the fact that Yukio and her would bitch about Momo behind Toshiro’s back. She’d asked that Rukia not mention this to Toshiro, but it hadn’t settled her stomach much at all. What if she were just the next ex-girlfriend that they both bitched around? Rangiku had given her a “don’t-be-thick” look when Rukia voiced the concern, but it still lingered at the back of her mind.

‘Rangiku says he’s very protective of you,’ Rukia pointed out.

What if Yukio hated Rukia for hospitalising his best friend? After all Rukia still felt personally responsible for Toshiro’s big crash on the slopestyle course and there were plenty of articles and news sources online dedicated to the fact that she _was._

He shrugged. ‘Good thing you make me happier than I have ever been.’

The way he smiled as he said it, the dimples flashing on his cheeks had heat creeping across Rukia’s face. Every now and again she’d get struck by just how attracted to him she still was. Rukia was sure that there had to come a point when that feeling would leave her, but she was still experiencing it and wondered if maybe, it never would?

Toshiro kissed her cheek and Rukia melted against his affections. ‘I’ve loved seeing your home this week,’ Rukia murmured.

‘My home has loved having you,’ Toshiro flirted back and Rukia chuckled.

‘Ireland won’t be as homey,’ Rukia sighed then, reaching across the table for her glass of wine. It was sitting out in the sun, so she moved it into the shade as she took a sip, ‘but I do want to show you it.’

‘It will be homey,’ he murmured back, ducking down to kiss at her neck as she moved away from him. ‘Home is wherever you and I are together now.’

Rukia chuckled, he was always far better at words than she was. Instead of trying to come up with a response, she simply leaned against him and enjoyed the moment. Occasionally Toshiro would kiss her head, and she’d sigh in content, his long fingers were playing with hers again, where their hands were interwoven on the old wooden table. Rukia absorbed the sun, though Toshiro was also helping to shade the worst of it from her with how tightly woven they’d become. The Australian sun was more dominant than the Irish sunshine could ever be, and she hoped to be able to bask in it and remember how it felt when she went home.

Rukia wanted to commit everything about this moment to memory.

A sharp intake of breath sounded behind them and Toshiro turned toward the noise. Rukia remained still, assuming it had been another patron of the pub, but she felt him tense and she glanced curiously around. Standing before them, was none other than his vicious, vile ex.

Rukia had stalked Toshiro enough to have found some of the images that had been on other people’s profiles of them together. Though Toshiro had deleted them from his own Instagram and Facebook, there were plenty he didn’t have control over. Momo also seemed keen for the world to know that they were together… or… _had_ been together, making her exceptionally easy for Rukia to find. It was no mistaking the woman who stood in front of them just now, she even had her medical badge pinned to her chest as if she’d just come from work. Before the creature could open her mouth and say anything, Rukia brought Toshiro’s attention back to her, hooking a finger under his chin and guiding his lips to her.

Perhaps it was a little childish to mark her territory like this, but since his words had failed to penetrate that thick skull of his ex, Rukia wondered if actions would. It gave her a deep sense of satisfaction to know that the woman seen them kiss, maybe she was still watching? Maybe she’d run off? Rukia had no idea, as the kiss deepened and Toshiro held her close, melting into her and happily accepting how she choose to deal with this situation. After all, Rukia was bad with words, if she’d started trying to insult Momo, it’d likely have ended with Rukia just throwing her drink at her. This was by far, safer.

Toshiro seemed to agree, at least, he didn’t object, not while his lips were busy on hers and his tongue in her mouth. She let her hands wander around his neck, sliding up into his hair, her fingernails scraping lightly against the delicate flesh she knew he secretly loved.

‘Dinner and a show?’ Renji’s obnoxious voice broke the beautiful atmosphere that Rukia and Toshiro had been building between them. Toshiro pulled away and Rukia reluctantly did too, tossing a glare at Renji who just smirked at her. For once she wasn’t so happy to see him. Remembering why she’d started kissing Toshiro so heavily, Rukia glanced around and was relieved to see that the wicked witch of the west had left Oz. Her eyes spent a little longer than was necessary scanning the area for any sign of her before she finally relaxed.

Toshiro turned back, his attention had been elsewhere and Rukia studied him, ‘I wanted her to know you’re mine.’ She was careful to keep her voice low, she didn’t want Renji and Ichigo to overhear and figure out what had just occurred. Ichigo had recently become quite defensive of his little brother and Rukia was sure he might get a bit annoyed to know that Momo had come by.

‘I’m all yours,’ Toshiro replied and Rukia smirked as he reached down and connected their lips again.

‘Dinner and a show?’ this time it was Rangiku and Toshiro pulled away with a sigh. Rukia tried not to giggle at his reaction, but failed miserably, leaning into his chest as Rangiku and Renji high-fived in the background.

Banter flew between them, and Rukia only became engaged when Renji asked if she’d gone soft on them.

‘Soft?’ she snipped, pulling away from Toshiro to lean across the table and snatch the menu from Renji’s hands. Rukia battered him over the head with it before bringing it back to her and Toshiro while everyone laughed.

Very clearly she had not gone soft on them. That didn’t stop her stealing kisses from Toshiro behind the menu though as they worked out what they wanted to eat.

Toshiro had to explain what the difference between a “parmy” and a “schnitty” for her then helped her decide on the parmy for her Australian culinary experience. Rukia was more than happy for him to decide, given that he’d not failed her yet when it came to food. Toshiro ordered the “schnitty” (read: Chicken schnitzel) and they silently agreed to share. With the orders placed, two burgers with the lot, one steak, one “schnitty”, one “parmy” and one barramundi, the drinks started flowing. Renji, Ichigo and Toshiro were on the beers, Gin and Rangiku and Rukia decided to split the cost across bottles of wine and prosecco.

The sun moved down the sky and hung at a comfortable distance just as their food arrived and they’d started on their second round.

‘Try this,’ Toshiro held his fork up with a bit of his chicken schnitzel on it, Rukia took it in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

‘It’s good,’ she hummed, ‘but I think I prefer this fancier version,’ she pointed at her chicken parmagana and he laughed.

Then he nicked a chip and she glared childishly at him. The night continued with the same amount of playful banter it had started with. Renji had attempted one more prank that went horribly wrong, this time resulting in him having to give a generous slip of money to a waitress who had seen _far too much._

The boys consumed more alcohol than the girls, Rangiku and Rukia enjoyed a bottle of wine and a half between them, with Ichigo and Gin having the occasional glass in between the many beers and ciders. Toshiro drunk around six or seven beers himself, but they were all put to shame by Renji who had well over ten and was being side eyed by Ichigo with sly comments about how he’d still be expected to get it up later. Rukia noticed that Toshiro would very obviously find something else to focus on when his brother made comments like that and she’d tease him for it.

The night ended with the couples returning home, Gin and Rangiku slipping into Rangiku’s room to enjoy some alone time and Rukia and Toshiro walking into his for the same reason. They’d be staying at Yukio’s for the final night and Rukia was a little thankful for being closer to the airport, the flight was going to be long and tiring without the added need of extra travel in the car. Plus it meant Rukia could spend as many travel free hours with Toshiro as possible before she was expected to get on that long flight.

The only thing that made the thought of leaving bearable was Renji and Gin would be with her. Both of them would be able to empathise with her level of despair.

‘Tonight was fun,’ Toshiro said, his arms wrapping around her on the bed, and his lips finding the back of her neck.

‘It was,’ Rukia sighed and leaned back into him, ‘it’s gone too fast though.’

The statement was loaded with enough unsaid feelings that Toshiro squeezed her and pulled her closer. Instead of replying, he continued with her preferred method of communication. His lips mapped the junction of her neck out over her shoulder. He had to hook a finger into the neck band of her t shirt and tug it, but he managed. Rukia left him, closing her eyes and choosing to just feel him. The evening was creeping on and it was already close to nine at night, but it was clear neither of them were tired. Rukia wondered if this night would be similar to the night where they’d spent the time waiting for the sun to rise at the Olympics, both too scared to close their eyes because it meant losing precious hours of each other.

Talking ceased, and Rukia lifted her arms as Toshiro pulled her shirt up over her head and discarded it onto the floor. She turned to meet his gaze and saw those stunning teal eyes reflecting the dull room lighting back at her. Rukia had never seen such a naked gaze before, it were as if his eyes were laid bare to her, with the depths of emotions that twinkled back, his thick black lashes casting shadows under and above his eyes making them look larger than normal. She wasn’t sure what his gaze was probing for in hers, but whatever he was searching for, he seemed to find, he leaned in and closed the distance between their lips.

The kiss was sweet, drawing out the delicious flavour of the beer that had coated his breath. Her arms circled around his neck, but her hands did not tug at his hair, she did nothing to spur him on, and he did nothing to push her. Toshiro was being slow and deliberate, his movements reminding her of the lazy morning they’d woken up together in Switzerland and had sex his way before her competition.

The memory was fond and though Rukia had been impatient at the time, she had really enjoyed having him all to herself. Toshiro’s hands continued to wander across her skin, not heading in any particular direction. He was just touching her for the sake of touching her and Rukia sighed into his mouth. If he noticed her patience this time, he didn’t comment on it. As soon as his lips strayed from hers they were mapping the skin of her neck and Rukia tilted her head back, letting him enjoy the vast expanse of her throat. Each kiss left a burning trail of goose bumps on her skin, but Rukia closed her eyes and focused on the cool wet kisses he was placing. It was the anticipation that made her shudder in his lap, she expected at any moment, he’d mark her, drag his teeth across her and leave those purplish claims he was so fond of.

With each new kiss he placed, Rukia melted, completely pliant to his touch in a way she only ever allowed herself to be with him. Sensing the shift in dynamic, Toshiro moved, slipping his hands up her back and unhooking her bra, tossing it onto the floor, with her other clothes soon to follow.

Rukia had never been loved like this before. Each night she spent in Toshiro’s company she was being shown new ways to care, new ways to be passionate, new ways to be vulnerable and open and raw with him. She wasn’t sure if this was standard to all relationships or unique to them, given how very different the two of them were.

The adopted Australian snowboarder, who wore his heart on his sleeve and who fell in love so easily because love was the most important thing in the world to him, the man who earned gold by following his heart.

The orphaned Irish figure skater, who had shut the world out in pursuit of the next gold, the next conquest to bring her some joy from the lack of compassion in her life, the woman who earned silver by learning to care for others.

The two of them were now coming together, joining in a dance that was oh so familiar to them at this point. Toshiro pressed her down into the bed, his hand sliding into hers, lacing their fingers together as Rukia arched up into him. He was taking the time to map her skin, tracing his lips across areas he’d not explored before, the side of her breasts, the curve of her hips. Rukia could do nothing but sit and feel him, shuddering against his touch and gusts of air that occasionally spilled from his mouth. When he’d finished, he turned her over, and paid the same attention to her back. His cold lips tracing down her spine, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her ass while Rukia squirmed.

There were several times she expected him to spank her, just as she expected him to bite and mark, but his hands only ever eluded to it, pulling away on occasion and clearly watching as Rukia braced for an impact than would never come. At one point, Rukia turned to see him grinning thoughtfully, his eyes trained in on her as she had tensed it, before her cheeks unclenched and he gave a soft chuckle. Rukia huffed at him, but said nothing, being unusually patient and submissive as Toshiro leaned over her, pressing her down into the bed and making her shudder when she felt his hard member press against her ass.

It wasn’t just an evening for Toshiro to be in charge. As soon as he was done mapping her out, making her squirm and committing everything about her to memory, he allowed the tables to be turned on him. Rukia took her time to learn his body as he’d taken the time with hers, she explored every section of the muscles on his torso and back, she watched in wonder as he tensed parts of his body for her viewing pleasure and found herself nuzzling affectionately when his arms encircled her. Rukia hated to admit it, because it went against the very feminist part of her brain, but she loved feeling protected in his arms. When he encircled her, she felt like nothing bad could happen, like the outside world didn’t even matter.

When they were done exploring and exchanging affectionate cuddles and kisses, he finally made moves to join them. They moved together, slowly, his thrusts long and deep and Rukia gazed into his eyes, feeling every inch of him inside her. It was quiet to begin with, the room so still they could hear the sound of Toshiro’s neighbours, but as need drove them on, the rhythm and pace changed into something more needy. Toshiro hitched Rukia’s legs over his hip and drove into her with a force that told her he was close.

When they came together, they didn’t make any moved to disconnect. Toshiro softened inside her but they remained connected and Rukia basked in the feeling, the afterglow of a perfect evening. Neither of them wanted to sleep, it was evident from the way they’d occasionally touch each other, move together and glare at the clock on his bedside table. They spent some time chatting about the trip, chatting about the Olympics and their upcoming seasons.

‘Will you support me in learning to snowboard? I don’t want to feel left out anymore if you all go on ski and snowboard holidays without me,’ Rukia chuckled and Toshiro laughed.

‘Nothing would make me happier.’

‘Even if I need to go on the beginner slopes and it’s really boring?’ Rukia asked, partly teasing him back.

Toshiro sighed as if the thought caused him great suffering, ‘I suppose.’

‘Hey, what happened to being supportive?’ Rukia jabbed him under the covers and he laughed.

‘I’m kidding, I’m kidding, of course we’ll take it slow. I want you to love it and come with us, so I don’t want it to be too scary for you and put you off.’

‘I’ll love it,’ Rukia rolled her eyes, ‘because I’ll be there with you.’

Toshiro moved himself so he could stare into her eyes and Rukia glanced cautiously back at him.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘That’s the sweetest thing you’ve ever said,’ he beamed at her and Rukia rolled her eyes, but felt the heat rising in her cheeks.

‘Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,’ she mumbled back. Toshiro chuckled and pulled her close again.

The two of them fell silent with Rukia practically asleep against his chest as he kissed her forehead and murmured goodnight. She gave him a sleepy hum in response, feeling completely content in his arms.

\----

Breakfast the next morning was just as chaotic as ever. Toshiro and Rukia had went back to the Shiba house for breakfast. The weather was so beautiful that Isshin and the family had opened the doors leading onto the backyard and they moved between the kitchen and dining space and the garden freely. Toshiro and Karin were off playing soccer and Rukia was helping Yuzu with her blog, offering a special interview while Yuzu typed happily away on the screen. The blog had gotten unusually busy recently, with a large influx of Australians now interested in following and a lot of shared hashtags between the two countries carrying pictures of other Irish and Australian couples.

Yuzu and Rukia spoke about what was and wasn’t appropriate to share from the couples holidays as Yuzu wanted to expand her audience and include Renji and Ichigo and Rangiku and Gin content too. The young Shiba was very open to feedback and was happy to pull back on anything the family were not comfortable sharing. Even Isshin cast his eyes over some of the posts she had scheduled and gave his insight into not sharing particular pictures because maybe they had half a car licence plate in the shot or something that might identify where they lived to rabid fans.

The professional discussions were broken by the howl of laughter that emitted from Rukia when Karin kicked the ball into Toshiro’s face.

Breakfast was incredible, Ganju and Kukaku had made an assortment of everything and brought it out into the garden. It was much more like a hotel all you can eat breakfast then it was a family breakfast, but looking around at the eleven mouths that were expecting to eat, Rukia understood why there was so much. She decided to be a little cheeky and took a bit of bacon and two sausages, but was helped by Toshiro who kept stealing food from her plate similar to how he’d stolen chips the evening before.

Rukia was just shy of murdering him when his father handed him his own plate of food, clearly sensing the danger of losing his son. After breakfast, Toshiro left to help tidy up and pack the car for their trip and Rukia was grabbed by Yuzu for the last round of interview questions.

‘Now I don’t personally want to have to ask this,’ Yuzu started the final question, ‘because he’s my brother and its gross but… the fans will want to know –is Toshiro a good kisser?’

Rukia watched Toshiro approaching them over Yuzu’s shoulder as he returned from his chores and she smirked. ‘He could win a gold medal for it,’ Rukia started innocently as Yuzu typed the reply and Toshiro’s face blanched, ‘as he could with most things in the bedroom-’

‘Wow we’re going to be late,’ Toshiro said hastily, his large teal eyes sliding down to Yuzu’s laptop screen as the younger girl typed away, ‘don’t include that, Yuzu.’

‘The fans want to know,’ Yuzu pouted up at her brother, turning the weight of her eyes on him.

‘Yeah, Babe,’ Rukia smirked. ‘The fans want to know, and I do not let my fans down.’

She watched as Toshiro narrowed his eyes at her, likely he was recalling the time at the rink when Rukia had let Yuzu be privy to a little too much detail and was scared the same thing would happen again.

‘We have to go,’ Toshiro said firmly, ‘we wouldn’t want to be late for our other “exclusive” interview this evening.’

Rukia had almost forgotten about it, she took a deep breath. That evening she and Toshiro were due to appear on a popular Australian show where they were to be interviewed. She was nervous. Normally she wouldn’t care about interviews, she’d done loads of them already, but this was the first one she was doing with Toshiro where they were appearing as a couple and it was in front of _his_ home country. She didn’t want to make a fool out of them or embarrass him when everyone was watching.

Thankfully Yuzu called her attention back while begging for one last question for her blog, and it eased the anxious squirming that had started in Rukia’s stomach at the idea of what was to come.

‘One more?’ Yuzu begged, her eyes locked onto Rukia and her finger raised. Rukia nodded.

‘Now that you’ve practically perfected the Quad Lutz and the season is over,’ Yuzu glanced at her notebook, ‘what is your next big goal?’

It was a loaded question, and one Rukia had considered herself a couple of times. Her eyes slid to her boyfriend, and Toshiro raised an eyebrow at her. They’d not discussed this together and he was clearly just as intrigued for the answer.

‘I think I want to focus on my personal life for a little while.’ Rukia tried to put her thoughts into words, which was difficult for her, but she was getting better at, ‘I learned a lot about myself at the Olympics, and found my passion for the ice again. I feel like I’ve accomplished everything I set out to do, so it’s time to turn my focus to other areas of my life.’

It was vague, and she obviously kept the depths of her emotions from the statement. Rukia met Toshiro’s curious glance and gave him a small smile, which he returned. It was a conversation that she’d likely expand on with him, when they were alone.

‘I can’t imagine the skating world without you,’ Yuzu sounded upset and as Rukia turned she saw the young skater smiling sadly, not looking at them. Rukia chuckled.

‘You young things aren’t getting rid of me that quickly,’ Rukia smirked at her. ‘I’ve got at least one more World Championship to steal from Hiyori before I call it a day, maybe more.’ She rolled her eyes playfully while Yuzu beamed up at her.

It was true, Rukia did have plans to retire. She couldn’t ignore the way her bones felt each time she landed a jump on the harsh ice anymore, but she still wanted to let the world know she was going out at the top of her game. Rukia had the trickiest quad in her repertoire, and she wanted to be able to do at least one more before she finally called it quits.

Rukia also wanted time to plan and choreograph her final routines and she wanted them to be a tribute to all the people she’d come to love in her life. It would be emotional, but she knew she’d have her brother and Toshiro and Gin and the entire Shiba family (including Rangiku) supporting her.

Yuzu stood and Rukia embraced the tiny skater. She remembered vividly how she’d felt when Takahashi retired and how emotionally involved in his life she’d been. It was hard to watch someone you admire, step down from their sport, even if you understood why they had to do it.

‘We better watch our time,’ Toshiro prodded them gently and the girls split apart. Yuzu looked a little teary eyed at the farewell. It would be a while before Rukia would see them all again, especially given that next time Toshiro would be coming to Ireland.

Rukia said goodbye to Karin, who was incredibly amicable toward her and even gave her a hug, which surprised Rukia but she could see the way it pleased Toshiro. Then she said goodbye to the rest of his family, with the final person being Isshin. He wrapped Rukia up in a hug that she’d rarely experienced in her life. Somewhere in the vague hazy background of her memories, she could remember her own father holding her like this.

‘Make sure you call us when you land,’ Isshin stated firmly.

‘I will,’ Rukia agreed. ‘Thanks for having me.’

‘Thank you for being a part of Toshiro’s life,’ Isshin murmured back. ‘You’re welcome back any time, you’re part of this family now.’

Rukia was determined not to cry in front of his family. It was hard to summarise how much that statement meant to her and the raging hormonal mess it would make her when she recalled it during her next period. It was nice to think of having a family again, even if she was just sort of adopted into them.

Toshiro slipped his hand into hers, leading her away out the front door. Rukia took one last sweeping glance back at them all before she got in the car. They were all waving their farewell, Yuzu looking the most upset and Isshin looking a bit dour too as he tried to keep himself in check to be there for Yuzu.

‘You okay?’ Toshiro asked, when they were in the car. His hand found hers for a moment and he rubbed the back of her knuckles with his thumb. Rukia struggled to put into words, everything she was feeling.

‘I going to miss them,’ she finally answered, deciding that this summarised the internal inferno of her emotions.

Toshiro grimaced, but he squeezed her hand reassuringly and pecked her lips. Rukia could feel the tears she’d been holding back in the house threatening her now.

‘You will see them soon I’m sure,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll be lucky if Yuzu doesn’t stow away in my luggage when I come to visit you, and no doubt Dad will call five times a day during my trip just to talk to you.’

Rukia laughed wetly, swiping at her eyes with her fingers and grinned, ‘I can’t wait.’

They drove to Sydney and Toshiro was feeling generous enough to let her put on music. Rukia selected one of her more upbeat playlists to educate his music taste and it helped chase the gloom and feeling of longing they had as they travelled. Toshiro had put a bag of snacks down beside Rukia’s feet and would occasionally ask her to find things for him.

It was like a cultural lucky dip every time her hand went into the bag of snacks. He’d packed everything from homemade sandwiches to bottles of juice, biscuits and even-

‘SHAPES!’ Rukia called, her hand finding the box of pizza flavoured delights and pulling them from the bag. Toshiro laughed heartily beside her, likely from her overwhelming enthusiasm. ‘And you packed the pizza ones!’

‘Well,’ Toshiro rolled his eyes with an overly dramatic sigh as if it caused him great suffering, ‘they’re your favourite ones, and all the chicken crimpies had been eaten by Ichigo and Renji.’

Rukia laughed as she tore open the box and handed him some to sit on his lap and pop in his mouth when he wanted. The trip continued and as they drove, Rukia made up a Spotify playlist filled with some of the music that reminded them of the Olympics, from her and Yuzus skating routine music, to the cheesy 90’s music they’d all been dancing too at the closing ceremony. Rukia couldn’t remember ever having so much fun on a car journey before.

Halfway they stopped so they could refuel the car and stretch out their cramped limbs. Rukia took the time to stretch properly, earning confused looks from passers-by while Toshiro went inside to pay for the fuel. It was important for her not to cramp up, given that she was hitting the ice with her brother the moment she made it back home. They’d been agreeing over text that Rukia could choreograph her next routine and she’d been thinking about it on their car trip. She was excited to get started.

Though she was sure all the snacks and fatty foods would catch up with her.

‘I got you a little present to take home,’ Toshiro said as he approached. Rukia had her leg stretched out over his car and lowered it smiling. He handed her a keyring with a smirk, ‘it’s a Drop Bear.’

Rukia shoved him.

The keyring was a fluffy little grey koala with ‘AUS’ written across its chest and once they were back in the car Rukia applied it to her keyrings without much fuss.

When they arrived in Sydney, they had little time left and Toshiro drove them straight to the studio. Rukia could feel the nerves return as they made their way inside and were told to wait by the woman at the front desk. Toshiro stood close to her though, and Rukia’s eyes glanced around the walls at the images of the celebrities they’d had visit previously, reminding her of the time at the Olympics Toshiro took her sky diving and all the pictures on the walls there too.

A girl in a pink dress appeared to lead them to hair and makeup, gushing over how amazing it was to have them in the studio. Rukia kept a smile on her face, nodding along and just hoping she wouldn’t make a fool of herself for Toshiro’s sake. Meanwhile Toshiro had no concerns, he was excited and kept beaming down at Rukia as they were led to their chairs, and introduced to the makeup team.

Rukia had changed into a light lilac dress she’d brought for the occasion and Toshiro was looking ravishing in black jeans with a white button shirt. It looked so effortless and so good on him.

With hair and makeup done, they waited in the dressing room to be called on. Rukia stood picking at her nails which had been cleaned of her old nail polish and tried to control her breathing. If Toshiro had picked up on her nerves he didn’t say anything and she was thankful. Rukia had to consider how he was feeling… Toshiro wasn’t used to this level of attention, but Rukia had been through it all before.

Getting herself together and putting on her game face, that was naturally reserved for the cameras, Rukia reminded herself why they were here. They were here because Australia wanted to celebrate Toshiro’s win and celebrate the coming together of two unique countries.

She felt substantially better when they were introduced to the hosts, for though Toshiro was familiar with them, Rukia had barely watched or seen them before. Peter, Carrie and Charlie were all friendly enough and Rukia and Toshiro took their seats as a producer counted them down and told them they were online.

Rukia felt her nerves ease, as she shoved concerns of embarrassing Toshiro from her mind, she was here to celebrate him.

‘Welcome back,’ Carrie greeted the camera and the audience, ‘our next guests stole both medals and our hearts at the recent Winter Olympics. You may know them as RukiShiro, but we know them as Rukia Kuchiki and Toshiro Shiba.’

Rukia held Toshiro’s hand under the desk, squeezing it comfortingly. They waved at the audience with their free hands and smiled.

‘How are you guys?’ Charlie asked smiling.

‘We’re good,’ Rukia answered first, ‘great actually!’

‘We’re excited to have you here,’ Charlie told them happily. ‘Are you two aware of the huge following the hashtag ‘RukiShiro’ has across social media?’

Rukia and Toshiro exchanged knowing looks as they laughed, it was nice to know where that hashtag had originated, even if it was still baffling to see how much it had blown up.

‘On Twitter alone, there have been millions of tweets and retweets about your relationship,’ Charlie continued. ‘That’s got to be quite confronting?’

Behind them pictures from the fan page run by Yuzu were flashing on the screen as Toshiro responded.

‘It’s very unnerving,’ Toshiro chuckled. ‘Possibly more for me as I’m not quite used to this level of attention, certainly not outside my sport.’

‘You mean this kind of attention?’ Peter asked gesturing the Calvin Klein image that had flashed up on screen. Rukia beamed at the image, it was even better on the big screen, the bulge in his underwear was even more prominent, she bit her lip as the audience cheered behind her. Toshiro was mortified, but Rukia didn’t care, the next question was directed to her.

‘How has it been for you, Rukia?’ Carrie asked, ‘you have been in the spotlight for a long time.’

‘Yes I have,’ Rukia agreed but grimaced at her reputation. ‘Not always for the best reasons either. This has been far more positive though, and I think my fans have been glad to see me happy.’

Toshiro squeezed her hand affectionately under the table and Rukia returned the gesture as the interview went on.

‘Well you guys do look very happy,’ Carrie said with a smile and Rukia watched as imaged of her and Toshiro flashed up, most notably from the closing ceremony where they’d swapped hats and were holding hands. ‘Is this your first time in Australia, Rukia?’

The audience were making cute agreeable noises and Rukia smiled at Toshiro.

‘Yes,’ Rukia replied, ‘I’ve had an amazing time getting to see Toshiro’s home and spend time with his family. I didn’t appreciate the Drop Bears prank though.’

The audience laughed at that, very clearly understanding exactly what had gone down. It seemed to be as much an inside country joke as the Irish convincing people that fairies and leprechauns were real.

‘I had a lot of fun scaring her with the wildlife,’ Toshiro added with a chuckle. ‘Especially telling her that there could be deadly snakes around when we were half way up the mountain.’

Rukia stared at him, and the audience laughed harder at her unimpressed look. Rukia really did hate snakes.

‘I made him carry me the rest of the way up,’ she glared at him, ‘and all the way back down.’

Toshiro shrugged casually, ‘worth it.’

The direction of the interview shifted to the Olympics.

‘So when did you two first meet?’ Carrie asked.

‘Well we actually saw each other at the opening ceremony,’ Rukia said, glancing at Toshiro who was smiling softly, ‘my friend was a big Rangiku fan and she was dancing with this lump.’

Toshiro’s face fell into a frown and he glared at her. Rukia simply grinned playfully, knowing full well that was her payback for the Drop Bear ordeal. The audience laughed, knowing her jibe was simply playful and not serious at all.

‘Was it love at first sight?’ Peter asked with a chuckle and Rukia laughed heartily, because it was certainly lust at first sight for her, but she didn’t think the rest of them needed to know that.

‘He’s certainly good looking enough that it played on my mind, then we met each other at the bar,’ Rukia selected her words carefully and Toshiro took her lead.

‘And the rest is history,’ he chuckled politely, leading the conversation away from that first passionate night together.

They moved onto speaking about their jumps, from Toshiro’s switch backside 1260 to Rukia’s quad lutz before swinging it back around to talk about some of the drama surrounding their relationship. Rukia knew it had to come up, they’d want to clear the air of any confusion but she still grimaced at the picture of her and Chris eating together and the headline that suggested she’d moved on from Toshiro.

‘Much of it was a misunderstanding,' Rukia told them gesturing to the screens as she hastened to explain, ‘that particular photo was from a lunch meeting I was having, it was purely professional.’

‘It must be hard to build a new relationship when the gossip sites are posting things like that,’ Carrie agreed, ‘without much fact checking happening.’

Rukia nodded her agreement, ‘It’s not easy trying to work out how you feel when the media is trying to tell you how to feel,’ she went on to explain. ‘I’ve learned to ignore it over the years, but it can still be confronting at times.’

‘Of course,’ Carrie agreed then turned her attention to Toshiro. ‘What was it like for you?’

‘It was difficult,’ Toshiro swallowed. ‘I tried my best to ignore it all, but I know certain things got to me more than I like to admit. I am so impressed and proud of Rukia to have stayed true to herself and her own feelings through it.’

Rukia slid her hand up his back and into the hair at the base of his neck, it was meant to be comforting. She hated that she’d hurt him and though she couldn’t go back and change the shitty person she had been she could only vow to do better in future. Toshiro’s hand rested on her thigh, he smiled warmly at her and she returned it.

The hosts skirted the topic of her Instagram picture, there were certain things they agreed to discuss before appearing on the show but that topic had been a big no-no for them.

The topic turned onto another area that Rukia hated to think about, but they expected to come up, Toshiro’s slopestyle crash. Charlie asked Toshiro about it and the hosts tried to draw as much out of him as he could honestly remember. They turned the question on Rukia, asking her how she felt.

‘I genuinely thought I had lost him,’ Rukia responded with a shaky breath. Toshiro pulled her stool closer and Rukia’s head found his shoulder. She breathed in the scent of home as the audience murmured cutely at their affection.

‘Well luckily for us all, that was not the case,’ Charlie exhaled. ‘And, by the looks of things, it didn’t hinder your performance any in the halfpipe, Toshiro.’

‘I got the gold and the girl,’ Toshiro replied and Rukia could hear the smirk in his voice as he squeezed the arm around her shoulder. Rukia smiled into his shoulder, of the two of them, Toshiro deserved that gold more than anyone and she was excited to be able to celebrate it with him.

The interview compared their Olympic romance to Toshiro’s mother and father, which made Toshiro swell with pride, then they spoke about Toshiro possibly going to Ireland as the next chance they’d spend together before the interview wrapped up. Overall it had been a long and exhausting show, even if it had been fun. Rukia had relaxed into it and by the end felt at home, especially since a lot of fans stayed behind to have pictures and flags signed by the two, while telling Rukia she was now an honorary Australian.

After the show, they made the trip to Yukio’s house, both of them getting a second wind as they pulled up to the stunning beachside house. Rukia couldn’t see the beach properly, the moon hung too low in the sky, it was obscured by trees, but the house was beautiful. It was all one level, with large glass panels that clearly looked out over the beach during the day. Rukia gave a low whistle as Toshiro pulled their overnight bags from the back of the car. Taking his hand, Rukia allowed herself to be pulled toward the house, her eyes sweeping over the modern tiled roof, to the perfect lights that cast shadows up the brickwork. It was clear this was the kind of the place someone would pay through the nose to have, though judging by how many wins Yukio had in his sport and how many sponsor deals he likely had as a result, he could easily afford something this outlandish.

‘Far out, she’s a beauty,’ were the first words to reach Rukia’s ears as the doors were thrown open and the inside light spilled out onto their approaching forms. Yukio grinned and kissed her cheek in greeting before giving Toshiro a swift hug and leading them into the house.

Rukia barely managed to contain her gasp, the inside was just as stunning and lavish as the outside had been. The back garden extended the length of the large glass panels and the room was all open plan to maximise the amount of natural sunlight during the day. Yukio had loads of lights on, including some flooring lights that lit up the island in the centre of his kitchen and the bar he had just beside it. Around the space were various plants, modern art décor and modern furniture. Rukia moved into the space and followed Toshiro’s lead, putting her bag down beside his.

‘Are you lovebird’s hungry?’ Yukio asked, pouring them a glass of wine. Then he mentioned something about someone called Tucker and Rukia turned to Toshiro with a look of confusion.

‘We could eat,’ Toshiro nodded, clearly understanding the slang that had just spilled from the other man’s mouth. Rukia made a mental note, to ask for Australian slang lessons from Toshiro before she ever came back to visit Yukio. She’d heard that the boy liked his Aussie slang, but right from the get go, Rukia was now worried she wouldn’t understand him.

Thankfully it didn’t seem to be constant, and as they set about laying the table, they managed to chat amicably. Yukio made a fleeting comment as Toshiro pulled a chair out to help Rukia sit and she turned her attention to Yukio as he laid plates of roast vegetables and lean lamb chops down onto the dining table.

‘Congratulations on your win in South Africa,’ Rukia smiled, Toshiro had told her all about it and she was keen to make a good first impression on his best friend. ‘Toshiro said it was an exciting win.’

‘Thanks,’ Yukio grinned cheekily over his wine. ‘The conditions weren’t easy, but I don’t like easy.’

‘Neither do I,’ Rukia agreed and Yukio held up his wine glass for a cheers at the comment. Rukia complied with a grin.

The night slowly spiralled into madness after that first sip. Yukio wasn’t sparing any expense that evening, clearly wishing to make an impression and had bought the good wine. It was so good, Rukia barely noticed how much she was drinking, as the boys told tales about their time growing up together… that is to say that Yukio told her of several embarrassing moments growing up and Toshiro did his best to counter them.

Rukia had found out that Yukio and Rangiku had hid in his closet as he brought a girl home and he’d been mortified to know they’d heard everything. She learned everything from this to the first time the boys had encountered Rangiku. The story in itself wasn’t as funny as Rukia was picturing in her head, imaging two really young versions of the boys in front of her, one of them passing out after being hugged by Rangiku and the other wetting himself.

The only saving grace was that Toshiro was not the wetter, that had been Yukio, but the story ended with Rukia buckled over the table, having to lower her wine glass to stop her spilling any of the precious liquid inside.

‘Okay, look,’ Yukio put his own wine glass down, ‘it wasn’t our finest hour. In our defence, Rangiku was terrifying and we were babies.’

Rukia had tears streaming down her cheeks though, at the thought of how tiny and scared they’d looked as Rangiku approached them. In her mind Rangiku wasn’t younger at all, she was the same woman that Rukia knew her to be, but Toshiro and Yukio were significantly younger, much closer to children and absolutely petrified at the fact a woman had walked over to them. She grabbed her napkin on the table and dabbed her cheeks, but still the image stayed at the back of her mind and popped in from time to time making her giggle.

It happened once when they were cleaning up and again halfway through the movie they all watched together later that night.

The giggling subsided as they made their way into their room that night. Yukio had retired as it was after midnight, so they decided to open the back doors that led out onto the beach and sit outside for a little while. The decking at the back of Yukio’s house, where the bedrooms were, faded into the sand, that was how close he was to the shore. Toshiro and Rukia only had to take a couple of steps outside and sit down and they were on the beach.

Rukia finished her final glass of wine that she’d insisted on bringing to bed with her and Toshiro stretched his legs out lazily on the sand. They could hear the waves crashing gently against the sand and the round blue moon cast a whitish glow down over the water in front of them. The evening was peaceful and still and Rukia rested her head against Toshiro’s shoulder, wishing she could just be stuck in the moment with him and never have to leave.

‘I’ve loved this,’ she sighed.

‘I’m glad,’ Toshiro replied, the smile evident in his voice and the sadness present in his pitch. He didn’t want her to leave any more than she wanted to go. Rukia took a deep breath again, and Toshiro reached over, plucking the wine glass from her hand and taking a sip himself. She made no complaint, she’d had enough and was only drinking it to stop it going to waste.

‘What are you thinking about?’ he asked after the silence stretched on for a while.

‘My final skate,’ Rukia said.

Toshiro stilled beside her, this hadn’t been the answer he’d expected to hear, but his stillness prompted her to continue.

‘When we skate, we skate our feelings, sometimes when we’re young we skate and create a story of a superhero or something we want to be or do. When we’re adults and we’re skating, we usually skate to represent something in our life or something we wish to achieve.’

Rukia’s head remained on his shoulder as she spoke, but he reached around her with his arm and pulled her closer against his side. ‘I want my last skate to be dedicated to the two major turning points in my life, when the time comes. I want to skate a routine for my sister, to something from her favourite musical, Chicago.’ Rukia continued. ‘And I really want to do a piece for us.’

Toshiro squeezed her shoulders as she said it, ‘what song?’ he asked. His voice was thick and Rukia had to guess that he was lightening the mood but was genuinely touched by her proposal.

‘I think I’d get an original piece commissioned, it isn’t unheard of, just uncommon,’ Rukia said, ‘that way I could have it flowing through the entire rollercoaster ride that was the Olympics.’

‘That makes sense,’ Toshiro replied, ‘I doubt there’s a single track of music out there that would fit everything that happened at the Olympics.’

There was humour in his voice as he spoke, and Rukia chuckled. They’d had their fair share of drama, but also some of the best times of her life had been there, the night in the hot tub, falling asleep with him that first time and waking up with him, watching him win gold, there were too many.

‘What’s your favourite night?’ Toshiro asked then.

‘I’d probably say the hot tub was a contender, waking up in your arms that night was lovely, and just the view and the company… it was everything I loved in one evening,’ Rukia replied, ‘what about you?’

‘Easily the morning of your free skate,’ he replied, ‘that slow sex was amazing, and even the night before, getting to lie with you and feel like you were becoming my girlfriend.’

Rukia hummed her agreement and the stayed silent for a while after that, listening to the waves in the distance.

‘What would you call it?’

‘What would I call what?’ Rukia lifted her head off his shoulder and he turned to her, offering her the last sip of wine which she shook her head at. Toshiro drained the glass and continued, ‘what would you call the song?’

Rukia smirked, thinking about his mothers’ book, thinking about everything they went through together and replied without hesitation, ‘Going for Gold.’

‘I mean,’ Toshiro rolled his eyes playfully, but even he couldn’t hide the smile on his lips, ‘it’s a bit cheesy.’

‘I know,’ Rukia sighed, ‘it’s been done before too… but I didn’t mean gold as in a medal.’

Toshiro turned to look at her, his eyes twinkling in the low lighting of the moon. Rukia gazed at them, trying to distinguish the teal in the dark.

‘My gold was a lot more precious than a medal,’ Rukia smiled, she pulled the arm that had been around her shoulders off, and wove their fingers together, bringing the back of his hand up to her lips, ‘you’re my gold.’

Toshiro’s face morphed, it looked like he physically melted at her words and behind the moon glazed gaze she saw genuine emotion sparkle.

‘That’s about the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,’ he breathed.

‘I’m getting better with words,’ Rukia grinned, then it turned into a playful smirk, ‘but it still doesn’t excuse you from passing out when you hugged Rangiku.’

‘And that’s the meanest,’ he pouted and Rukia laughed. She shivered and the two of them stood up and headed inside, closing the doors but leaving a window open so they could fall asleep to the sound of waves. The last comment from Rukia had put those images back in her mind, and as they brushed their teeth she giggled remembering the image of Rangiku, Yukio and Toshiro, it followed them to bed where Toshiro sulkily asked if there was to be no sex that night.

\-----

She’d given him sex, of course she had, but they’d had to wait a while for her to stop giggling before he’d wrecked her. Normally the shift in power would have been uncomfortable for her, but Rukia woke in a state of absolute bliss, her head resting over the gentle thrumming of his heart in his chest. It was her favourite spot to sleep, where she could physically hear the muscle that kept him alive, after nearly losing him during the games.

Rukia could feel the faint bruises Toshiro had left against the inside of her thighs as she moved, mumbling sleepily into his chest as she woke.

‘Good morning, Beautiful,’ Toshiro murmured.

Rukia stretched, yawning and her own, ‘good morning,’ coming out muffled as she woke. With her tender muscles relaxed, the dull pain throbbed between her legs was all she had left to remember their final evening. Rukia deflated.

‘Do I have to go today?’ Rukia asked after a moment of silence. They were in a perfect setting, with the sound of the waves coming in through the window they’d left open the evening before, the warm honey glow of the sun illuminating the room.

‘I’m happy to have you stay,’ Toshiro murmured back, his arms tightening around her protectively, ‘but I don’t think Byakuya will be happy with me if I don’t let you get back for your sponsorship commitments.’

Rukia knew she couldn’t stay away from her brother, but she also hated the idea of leaving Toshiro, so she settled for pouting up at him. He kissed her forehead and Rukia responded by kissing the edge of his jaw.

They could have stayed there together for hours, they both knew that, but eventually Rukia’s alarm went off and with a horrible sinking feeling in her gut, the two of them got up. They showered together, changed together and stole kisses in between. Yukio followed them out to the car and waved them off and all too soon they were back in Toshiro’s car heading toward the airport. Rukia kept a firm hold of his hand for as long as she could on the drive over, a pain low in her abdomen seemed to be getting worse and she sighed in unease. They spoke about their trip, but the enthusiasm had drained from the two of them. Toshiro seemed to be holding up a little better, though Rukia was convinced he was just trying to remain strong for her.

When the car was parked, Toshiro took her hand and her suitcase and they went into the airport. They joined the queue for the baggage drop and Rukia checked in, and as they headed to find a table together where they could get something to drink as they waited for the rest of the couples to arrive. Renji and Ichigo didn’t look nearly as upset as Gin and Rangiku did, likely because they’d experienced this so many times before and knew how to deal with it.

‘Let’s go and grab a coffee,’ Renji said, taking charge of the morbid looking group. Ichigo smiled at his boyfriend and laced his fingers into the taller mans, but Rukia spotted the concerned glance that Ichigo threw toward Toshiro. The white haired snowboarder was looking more and more downcast as they got in line and he and Rukia pulled their keep cups from their bags. They settled down together in chairs tucked away in the corner, but that didn’t stop a number of people spotting them, primarily fans of Rangiku, who came over and asked for pictures. If there were any other fans who spotted them, they didn’t approach, perhaps due to the sombre looking expressions. Rukia kept close to Toshiro, practically tucked against him as one of his hands played with her fingers.

Not many words were exchanged, instead they communicated Rukia’s favourite way, with affectionate kisses and cuddles.

‘We should go,’ Renji said with a sigh and Rukia and Gin turned to glare at him for killing the mood. He grinned apologetically but otherwise said no more. They all stood from the table and the twisting sensation in Rukia’s stomach coiled worse, by the time they got to the entrance of the departure gates, she felt like she could be sick.

‘I don’t feel well,’ Rukia murmured into his shoulder as she hugged him, her nails digging into his back at the twinge of pain from her stomach.

‘Neither,’ he replied, which was the Australians way of agreeing with a negative statement. She nuzzled into his shoulder and prayed to any God who could hear her that this would get easier. The only thing silver lining Rukia clung onto, was getting to speak with her brother so they could look over her and Toshiro’s schedule together and figure out the best places for them to meet and see each other. Rukia was hopeful that Toshiro would be able to make it over for the Irish Nationals, though Rukia didn’t need to compete in such a small contest, it was a chance for her country to watch her perform and she wanted to take it.

The couple separated their embrace just long enough to kiss. It was one of Toshiro’s favourites, where he got to pour all of his unsaid emotions into it, the passion and the tender exchange of lips told her that she’d be okay.

‘Let’s go,’ Renji called to the crew, giving Ichigo a final hug and Toshiro and Rukia broke apart. Toshiro was starting to look sad now, but he smiled down at her regardless.

‘Call me when you land at your stopover,’ Toshiro said, ‘and then again when you get home, don’t worry about what time it is here.’ Their flight would stop over in Doha for a couple of hours before they’d get on their final flight for Dublin.

‘I will,’ Rukia agreed. ‘Send me updates so I stay sane.’

She wasn’t looking forward to the long flight, but she’d willingly paid extra for wifi and hoped to try and encourage Toshiro into watching a movie together as a long distance date. She had to see what movies were listed on the plane though before she could argue with him over what they were watching. Toshiro kissed her forehead as Gin encouraged her to move. They had left themselves with as small a window of time as they could to get through security and once on the other side their gate could be quite a walk away.

Reluctantly, Rukia stepped away from Toshiro, their fingers parting as she moved away from him. Toshiro released a shaky breath.

‘Say hi to your brother for me!’ Toshiro called to her. ‘Stay safe!’ Rukia felt his words warm her and she nodded her agreement.

‘Bye, Babe!’ Rangiku called to Gin looking just as miserable as Rukia felt.

‘And remember!’ Ichigo called out, voice holding a note of final teasing, ‘Aussie pubs are better than Irish pubs!’

Renji turned to march back to his boyfriend in a display that cheered the parting couples up as Gin grabbed Renji and yanked him back in the direction of security. Rukia laughed, holding back her tears as best she could as he hoisted her bag up her shoulder and gave a final wave, committing that brilliant white hair, those large teal eyes and his sharp jaw to memory, the face of the man who stole her whole world in a glance.

Then they were gone from sight, as the Irish lot entered the lines of security and Rukia’s tears finally spilled down her cheeks.

‘Please tell me that gets easier,’ Gin asked Renji huskily as he handed Rukia a napkin he’d pocketed from the coffee table. Rukia wiped at her eyes and Renji smiled reassuringly.

‘Eventually you stop focusing on what you’re losing the day you leave and look ahead to the fun you’re going to have next time you see them, and what crazy shenanigans you get up to when they’re not around that you can tell them about,’ he laughed.

‘No pranks,’ Rukia narrowed her eyes at him and he laughed again and held up his hands defensively.

‘Not today, you’ve had enough, I’m not that cruel,’ Renji chuckled.

When they got onto the plane, Rukia gazed out the window staring back at the airport in a futile attempt to see the Australian lot standing in a window somewhere. Gin was already texting Rangiku so Rukia decided to do the same before they took off. She snapped a picture of her little Australian keychain, which she’d finally given a name.

**Rukia, 12.24pm:**   
_I’ve decided to call him Droppy because he’s a Drop Bear (heart eyes)_

**_Toshiro, 12.25pm:_ ** _  
Please convince Byakuya that Drop Bears are real (crying laughter) (love heart)_

Rukia stared at their matching time zones for a while before sending a reply back, then the pilot was calling for their devices to be put into aeroplane mode.

With reluctance, Rukia slide the toggle and put her phone in her pocket, ready to half pay attention to the flight attendant on screen showing them the emergency protocol.

‘I bet,’ Gin said, his lanky head poking into her business class chair over the top of his own, ‘if we went back a few months and told ourselves where we’d be right now, neither of us would have believed it.’

He chuckled and ducked away and Rukia sat back, reflecting on what he’d said. Rukia agreed with him, there was no way that a past Rukia would have known that the Olympics could change her life so fully without a gold medal. She’d landed her jump, repaired the relationship with her brother, met some fantastic new friends and scored a boyfriend whom she could honestly see herself one day married too.

Rukia smiled, stroking a finger over the fuzzy little Australia Drop Bear on her keys, she’d maybe not gotten the gold medal, but she’d gotten gold is every other aspect of her life, and she’d be eternally grateful for the lessons she’d learned along the way.

* * *

**@RukiaFansOfficial**   
_Rukia herself as sent us these beautiful photos from #RukiShiroAussieHoliday and #IreAussieCouplesRetreat! Stay tuned for my exclusive interview with our skating queen, and remember to catch them tonight on The Project, 6:30pm AEST on Channel 10! (I will upload a link for all our Irish and international viewers)._

**@Quiksilver**   
_Get you a man that looks at you like **@Toshhiba** looks at **@RukiKuchi** (heart eyes)_

**@DCShoes**   
_Maybe **@Toshhiba** get our girl **@RukiKuchi** on a skateboard for the launch of our new #IreAussie skate shoes line, **@Quiksilver?**_

**@IrishLass101**  
 ** _@CalvinKlein @RukiKuchi_** _Can you confirm that this picture is REAL!?!_ [Image Attched]

**@** **Christophe-gc  
 _@IrishLass101_** **_@CalvinKlein @RukiKuchi_** _HOT DAMN (heart eyes) (kissy face) that #bulge though @Toshhiba!_

**@GinIsMyDrinkofChoice  
@RukiaFansOffical ** _I am so happy for them, all of them look so happy together!!! #IreAussieCouplesRetreat_

**@RanRoxyQueen29  
** _What a perfect ending to the joining of two countries… wow wow wow!_

**@RukiKuchi** **  
_@IrishLass101_** **_@CalvinKlein @_** ** _Christophe-gc_** _(Winky face)_

**Author's Note:**

> Please make sure you subscribe and comment! We love getting little comments as it really helps inspire us :D also Kudos are free to give even if you don't have an account ;) lets us know how many people are enjoying this kind of content so we can post more :)


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